And the Oscar goes to...

Martin Scorsese for one of the worst films of his career. Marty, you were once great. Come back to us now that you got your Oscar. Other predictions:

• Another overrated film, Pan's Labyrinthe, will win.
• Hellen Mirren will win and she will deserve the victory.
• Forrest Whitaker is not an underrated actor. For one of the only times in his career, he actually is very good and will also win . But let me repeat. He is not an underrated actor!
• I will bang my head several times against the wall tonight watching Hollywood be self-congratulatory and wrong in their judgments.

This is your thread to celebrate the movies.

Comments

[Whatever]

The Best Picture category is wide open this year, and any of the nominees could win.

Scorcese will probably win in a sentimental vote, but Clint Eastwood was better, directing in Letters from Iwo Jima.

Meanwhile, the best looking babe I've seen so far on the Red Carpet is Reese Witherspoon, IMO.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Bah. You and I do not see eye to eye. Besides "Borat," The Departed and Pan's Labyrinth were my favorite movies of the year. Last King of Scotland was up there, too, but Babel was overrated. It was solid...but Children of Men was better.

Also, while I'm pretty sure Pan's is going to win Best Foreign Language film, don't count out The Lives of Others. Just saw it last night...very impressive. It's about a member of the East German secret police a few years before the Wall fell, who's ordered to spy on a writer and his girlfriend. Good stuff.

[YF]

How do you do an Oscars post and not mention Jackie Earl Haley!?!

GO KELLY!!!!

[Nick-YF]

The Lives of Others, now that's a good film. So we agree there. But Pan's Labyrinth is winning tonight...unfortunately.

Ok, I'm exaggerating my dislike for these movies. But the winners are usually middle of the road fare. Sometimes they're offensively bad like Million Dollar Baby or Crash, but usually they're benign pieces that don't deserve recognition either way.

[Whatever]

It'll be interesting to see how Ellen DeGeneris does as host. I pretty much liked Jon Stewart last year. I don't know about Ellen. Sometimes she's funny, and other times...uh...

[YF]

Nice Errol Morris intro.

[Whatever]

Funny opening monologue by Ellen. That'll get good reviews.

[Nick-YF]

I thought Ellen's intro was solid.

[Whatever]

Alan Arkin wins for best supporting actor. Wow. Eddie Murphy was the favorite.

[Whatever]

People call Al Gore boring, but he has a good sense of humor and has been doing great work making people around the world more aware of the dangers the earth is facing because of global warming. Hoping he wins tonight with "An Inconvenient Truth" for Best Documentary.

One can't help but wonder what the world would be like if Gore had been declared the winner of the 2000 election.

[Whatever]

Jack has shaved his head. Really going for the badass look.

[tommy]

i think this is the forst time i can recall that i actually agree with whatever...

[tommy]

that agreement was about gore, not jack (and i don't disagree about jack, i just didn't see him).

[Whatever]

Hey Tommy, welcome aboard. I was starting to feel like the Maytag repairman here.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Wow! The Lives of Others beat Pan's. That's a pretty big upset, I guess. I really liked them both, and I'm glad this film will be getting some much-needed buzz.

[Kazz]

I hate the Oscars. The world's richest people get together and congratulate each other and then we are treated to someone else's opinions. Hoo ray.

[Nick-YF]

well, my string of wrong predictions continues. I could have sworn Pan's was going to win. Good choice.

[Whatever]

I must say Ellen's doing pretty good as host. She's been humorous all night without getting stupid, and her trips into the audience to talk with Marty and Clint were both funny.

[Whatever]

Gore's film wins the Oscar. Nice.

[Whatever]

This just in: No recount necessary on Gore's win.

[Paul SF]

Not only is Nick's taste in baseball teams lacking, but clearly his taste in films needs some work, too. The Departed is one of the best movies I've ever seen in theaters. (Please note this is different from movies seen on DVD, VHS, or plain old "best movies of all time.")

[YF]

I'm with Nick on The Departed. Seems to me Scorsese's skating by on fancy set decoration, fetishization of gore (not al), and his star actors, rather than meaningul storytelling. Departed doesn't stand up next to Mystic River, Clint's Boston cop drama, or the more original stylized genre work of Steven Soderbergh or Michael Mann. It's been a pretty sad drop from Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to bloated extravaganzas like Kundun and the Aviator and the Gangs of New York. At some point, shooting people in the head for the thrill of it is an artistic copout. It's interesting to me that the man who is the foremost authority on Italian Neo-Realism has so given himself over to movies with so little social import.

[beth]

so far your post is dead on. very nicely done.

agreed that scorsese deserves an oscar, but not for this film. oh well, seems to be how the academy works.

[Whatever]

There wasn't a real strong field for Best Picture this year. I saw The Departed and thought it was pretty good, but not Best Picture good. But you never know. People were shocked last year when Crash won over Brokeback Mountain.

These Oscar telecasts get over with too late.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Michael Mann? Seriously? You're praising him, and criticizing Scorsese? What'd you like best: Miami Vice or Collateral? Heat was good, The Insider was solid...but he hasn't directed a decent film in about 8 years.

The Departed was a remake of a Chinese flick called Infernal Affairs, widely regarded as one of the best Chinese films out there. What exactly is the complaint here? Should he have changed the plot such that the violence was toned down some? Should Scorsese have changed the style of the film and just ignored the original? I see your point, that the quality of his movies has declined over the years, I just don't understand what that has to do with whether The Departed deserved to win anything. Just because it was worse then his older films doesn't make it bad...

[Kazz]

Okay, I know I'm being a hypocrite here, but Children of Men was robbed in the Cinematography. That film was astounding. Pan's Labyrinth was not.

[Josh SF (D1)]

I liked Pan's...but Children of Men was miles above everyone else. How that movie failed to win a single award is beyond me.

[Andrew]

Children of Men was really great, and that's all I care about. If it didn't win some silly popularity contest, it doesn't detract from my ultimate enjoyment of the film. Also, I just saw Babel. One of the most depressing films I've seen in a long time.

[Devil Rays' Fan]

WTF? Talladega Nights got royally jobbed. This movie was a cinematic masterpiece, but it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture.

And Will Ferrell is one of the greatest comedic talents of this or any generation.

And what about the lack of Oscars for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest? Hello?! That was another glaring omission by the Academy.

Hollywierd strikes again.

[Nick-YF]

What YF wrote about Scorsese's decline pretty much sums up my sentiments. I have found his last few films empty and even formally flawed. I truly hope this Oscar win refocuses him.

[dc]

bummer to see al gore win, but not surprised given that his anti-bush rhetoric plays well with the hollywood types, all the while living in their "ungreen" mansions, driving hummers or being driven in gas-guzzling limos, and jaunting about in private jets...didn't see the movie and may never see it...the "inconvenient truth" about al is that all the while he's preaching to you about global warming he's not as "green" as he wants you to think he is:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-09-gore-green_x.htm

here's one opposing point of view from the wall street journal that suggests he may be exaggerating a bit:

www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009552

on a humorous note, check this out from "the onion":

www.theonion.com/content/node/56631

...remember, this is the same al gore who told us that he "created" the internet...

[Hudson]

It is a myth that Al Gore ever said that about the internet, DC. You're blinded by partisanship.

He deserved the Oscar.

I agree that The Departed is far from an Oscar-worthy movie... although it was not nearly as wretched as Gangs of New York, one of the most tedious films ever.

[dc]

"It is a myth..." well hudson, check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore/

"...You're blinded by partisanship...."
so are you hudson, so are you...

[Seth]

Why so harsh on Departed and Gangs of NY. Both films were fantastic. Do you guys not like multiple character development? Its really the gore that makes them bad? (Kundun and Aviator were bad, but its because he has made himself up to such a high standard).

[SF]

The myth holds, dc. This statement, read in context, while somewhat inelegant, only implies that Gore was involved in "initiatives" (read: legislation) that helped the creation of the internet. That's clear by the statement following this one, which says:

"I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."

Again, poorly spoken, but in context you get a sense of what he was saying. Twisting that and decontextualizing that to say that Gore claims he "invented the internet" is intellectually dishonest.

Here's a better question: why is global warming a partisan issue, the subject of ridicule for the right wing? Why has caring for the environment been stigmatized by conservatives? Why do you look down your nose at someone like Gore, whose attention to the environment has done nothing but good things. Who has been harmed by his focus, exactly?

End of politics. Back to baseball.

[Hudson]

DC, you cite an article from 1999, when the fabrication about Gore began (it started with Wired, a publishing company for which I also used to write).

Since then, though the press and conservatives won't let the myth die, the line has been completely debunked. See, for example, the Snopes site:

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

At the same time, it is true that Gore was a prominent, early champion of the Congressional funding that allowed the Internet to grow. Those involved acknowledge that "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development."

So Gore supported the growth of the net, but did not claim to invent it.

These facts, however, won't stop ideologues like DC from parroting what they hear on from the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly ad nauseam...

[john]

YF, Scorsese says The Depahted was his first movie with a plot. I guess you disagree?

I haven't seen The Depahted, but my problem with his other films is the way he depicts his own fascination with violence as a national problem with being violent. He detaches and blames others for his love -- sort of like Polanski saying that pedophilia was other people's problem in Chinatown.

SF - Who's been harmed by Gore's focus? W's oilman and military industrial friends. Show me the money!

Nick-YF - Crash was bad? Why? I don't remember it well but I remember it pulled me in and involved me.

[Brad]

Manny's in camp!!

BDD for the link.

[Brad]

manny's first BP partner - Matsuzaka. Imagine how crowded it is there to see that?

[LocklandSF]

Have any of you read the interview with Manny's agent this morning?

If I were Manny's agent, I would punch the reporters in the face, this is just so messed up, so unprofessional and totally pathetic. I really didn't think my opinion of the sports media could get any lower, until I read this.

http://tinyurl.com/bb7pb

[Brad]

bravo, Lockland. It's just stooopid. No wonder he hates them so much.

[Paul SF]

"Here's a better question: why is global warming a partisan issue, the subject of ridicule for the right wing? Why has caring for the environment been stigmatized by conservatives?"

Not gonna touch the global warming question, but I'd guess "caring for the environment" has been stigmatized because the measures supported by the left focus on regulation and often appear anti-capitalist. Economic conservatives see those solutions -- the Kyoto accord the most common example -- as detrimental to the economic health and stability of the United States. I support finding renewable energy sources (that's a big thing out in my neck of the woods, with solar and wind power being so profitable right now) and figuring out a way to stop global warming, but there seems to be some merit in not doing so at the cost of the country's economic stability -- otherwise Kyoto would not have drawn 90-plus opponents in the Senate the last time it came to a vote.

[tommy]

Gore is the man.

I really enjoyed the Departed. I saw it just after I moved from Boston to NYC, and it made me really homesick. Sniff. Is it Marty's best work? No. Was his job made easier because he was surrounded by A-list talent? Certainly. Can his Oscar properly be viewed as a lifetime achievement award? Sure. Do these arguments remind me of the support Cap'n Jetes got for the 2006 MVP? Yup.

[Paul SF]

Haha, good one Tommy. I enjoyed The Departed immensely, far more than Scorcese's other recent work (Aviator, which I liked, and Gangs of New York, which I would have liked much more as a two-hour movie). I can sympathize with a distaste for over-the-top gore as "art," but I didn't see that in The Departed. There was certainly some violence, but it wasn't Saw or Hostel or some other stupid "horror" movie.

[dc]

hudson and sf...boy do you guys get serious when i poke fun at one of "yours"...fellas, here's a direct quote from the gore cnn interview: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."....still think it's a myth?...
...now you can accuse me all you want about taking the quote out of context, which it really isn't...it stands alone quite well, and the joke is that we know he didn't really mean it literally, but his pompous delivery, makes it that much funnier...and his failure to consider opposing scientific opinion is what's intellectually dishonest sf...no, he's still p-o'd about losing to w, and has made this his crusade to embarrass the president...that's ok...it's america after all...i notice you conveniently ignored the real point of my post, which was the hypocrisy of mr. gore, something that seems to escape the average liberal...he's allowed to be wasteful for the sake of preaching to us about saving the environment...his message is hollow, but go ahead and give him the love...we need all points of view to make the discussion meaningful...i don't blame you for wanting to change the subject back to baseball sf...wise move...

[Nick-YF]

I'll refocus the discussion to less controversial things:

Steven Spielberg is currently making better films than Martin Scorsese. There, that should make me the target of some people's anger.

God, have I become Armond White?

[dc]

nice save nick...you're a good guy...i know i won't get a thoughtful response, so you've done some folks a favor....but, as for the movies, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[SF]

and his failure to consider opposing scientific opinion is what's intellectually dishonest sf

Which ones would those be, dc? The one in which a giant space lens manufactured by moon men is focusing the sun on the polar icecap, with distastrous effects? Or the one in which tiny heat goblins are lighting propane torches all over the antarctic ice shelf, causing significant melting?

[dc]

i think it's the tire burning reported by "the onion"...

...but seriously, check out the link i provided...and there are other theories that suggest he may be exaggerating...i don't think you and i would disagree that pollution is a serious global issue, but some suggest that old al is using unreasonable and unproven scare tactics to get his point across...my real point is that he is a hypocrite...there is hard evidence of that...