Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

šŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockinā€™ šŸŽµ

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The GOP couldnā€™t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Come on, man.

The willow is too close to the house.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape Americaā€™s future.

Consistently wrong since 2002

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Letā€™s not be the monsters we hate.

The revolution will be supervised.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I really should read my own blog.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Oscar’s Open Thread

Reader Interactions

225Comments

  4. 4.

    efgoldman

    Yay Oscar.
    I met him years ago at the local PBS auction.
    And yes, you DO end up talking to the Muppet character.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    And just in time for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. I know we’ve been waiting for this one all week.

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    Anyone think, young members of academy like La La Land, but older members of academy, maybe still remember musicals w/real singers?

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    I missed the early part (driving home). Did they mention Bill Paxton? Was it a good opening sequence?

  11. 11.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Elizabelle: Justin Timberlake did a song and dance number and Kimmel gave a short, but witty monologue with some zingers

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    Catching up on some of the nominated films…

    The movie “Lion” is a bona fide tearjerker. At one point, I was almost thinking that “this Muthafucking movie better have a happy ending, for all the angst it is putting me through.”

    The outline of the story is simple. A poor Indian child is separated from his older brother, ends up on a train and ends up thousands of miles away from home, in an Indian state in which his language is not spoken. In addition, he is too young to properly identify his home or his parents. After some harrowing time on the streets, he is adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman does a very good supporting turn as his mother). Dev Patel plays the child as a young man, who despite being nurtured in his adopted country, is haunted by the idea that his family may still be looking for him.

    What really centers this story is the way in which it gives you a wonderful sense of Saroo’s bond with his family, and his relationship with his older brother. I loved these scenes and they stick with you throughout the movie, and makes the older Saroo’s quest seem entirely reasonable, even though it seems impossible. Dev Patel has a strong screen presence and is totally convincing. Does he deserve an Oscar nomination? Sure, why not. Other performances I’ve seen this year are stronger, but he is no slouch. I want to see what he does in the future.

    The ending of the film is satisfying, and the end credit dedication brought a tear to my eye.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    Please not to snark. My brother worked in sound design and sound editing (mostly Foley) for years. Was on the team that won an Oscar for Glory, and was on several other nominated teams over the years. It’s careful, painstaking, important work, and the movies wouldn’t be nearly what they are without good sound people.

  18. 18.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    Please to excise that apostrophe.

    Appropriate that it’s there, given the picture.
    But then. I’m a grouch and I hate awards shows.

    As i said on Grammy night, I think the last one I watched was the night Brando sent a Native American woman to accept for him.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    I think the apostrophe was deliberate, just so he could put up the image of Oscar the Grouch.

    But it’s possible that Adam just doesn’t know any better.

  21. 21.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Mel Gibson looks like he just came back from vandalizing some cemeteries.

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    A little thematic something from an earlier thread. I got a Twitter message saying,

    “My Lyft driver is high as fvck”

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Like Auli’i Cravalho, who killed it despite getting accidentally hit in the head by one of the dancers? She did better than Idina Menzel in 2013!

    As I said below, that kid is more mature and self-possessed at 16 than I am at 47.

  29. 29.

    mouse tolliver

    @lamh36: The Hollywood Reporter talked to an anonymous older Academy member who hated La La Land for that exact reason. Didn’t want to vote for it for anything because of all the great musicals that got snubbed.

  32. 32.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I would love that. I still have an inner six year old.

    I was in my late 20s. Let’s just say that off camera, he wasn’t age appropriate and he WAS really, really funny.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    As I habitually web surf with images turned off, wasn’t even aware of it. In that case, removing the apostrophe and the s following it would cover both bases.

    (Also only vaguely aware of Sesame Street cast – so wouldn’t have fit the name with the picture regardless.)

  36. 36.

    Suzanne

    @raven: I am also in the middle of OJ: Made in America, and it is riveting.

    I love that Jackie Chan got an honorary Oscar.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Please not to snark. My brother worked in sound design and sound editing (mostly Foley) for years. Was on the team that won an Oscar for Glory, and was on several other nominated teams over the years. Itā€™s careful, painstaking, important work, and the movies wouldnā€™t be nearly what they are without good sound people.

    The first “Predator” movie had some of the best sound design and sound editing ever. The sound effects placed the invisible Predator in the right place, emphasizing the dread and danger even when you could not clearly see the monster.

  42. 42.

    Pogonip

    Did Cole survive the excursion to get the chair? Has the future Mrs. Cole bubble-wrapped him yet?

    She certainly is an industrious sort. Can she come and beautify our place? While we don’t have any “real” pets, we have a betta who poops a lot, which ought to make her feel somewhat at home.

  46. 46.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    an FYI from a trusted source for those of you with smart TVs.

    Yeah, my kid writes for their Consumerist website. She wrote it up, too.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    Undoubtedly mentioned someplace below (haven’t been online for a while, busy mowing and doing household stuff) is good news out of Delaware.

  52. 52.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I don’t care for him or his acting either. I’m in the minority… he has scads of fans, I’m sure. He just comes across as too pleased with himself and insincere to me.

  60. 60.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    Also only vaguely aware of Sesame Street cast ā€“ so wouldnā€™t have fit the name with the picture regardless.

    What kind of commie are you!

  63. 63.

    patroclus

    @Elizabelle: That was because that clip had Casey Affleck in it – the other actors, especially Lucas Hedges, carry the movie, which is really good.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I was kinda pulling for Naomie Harris (didn’t double check her last name) because she did that role in Moonlight In THREE DAYS because there was a problem with her visa (she’s British). That’s pretty amazing.

  69. 69.

    patroclus

    @raven: Indeed, the first one with “Allright Allright Allright” and Woody Harrelson was SO good, and Vaughan just utterly ruined the 2nd one.

  71. 71.

    raven

    @patroclus: He had help but, yea, he was the prime suspect. I felt bad for Lera Lynn, the singer in the bar, she went to UGA and played lots of music here. It has to suck to be in a bomb.

  72. 72.

    efgoldman

    @Brachiator:

    The sound effects placed the invisible Predator in the right place, emphasizing the dread and danger even when you could not clearly see the monster.

    When the first Star Wars came out in 1977, we saw it in a big, old fashioned theater with full Dolby surround – then just starting market penetration. Right at the beginning, when the star cruiser came from “behind” and “over our heads” we were hooked.
    (I knew a woman who’s son used to work for Dolby and travel all over the country installing the systems.)

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    All of ’em, Kate-ski.

    ;)

    Did learn to recognize the theme music because many decades ago worked the phones on the late, late overnight shift at fundraising time for the PBS station in Minneapolis/St. Paul and when that music came on it was a signal that my shift was over.

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    Viola Davis! Love her.

    I didn’t see “Manchester by the Sea”, and I won’t, because it looks just totally emotionally exhausting and I have a limited appetite for those films, but I hope Michelle Williams gets an Oscar soon. She gets nominated a lot and hasn’t won yet. And she has great hair.

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    @patroclus:

    That was because that clip had Casey Affleck in it ā€“ the other actors, especially Lucas Hedges, carry the movie, which is really good.

    Affleck is great in the film. It would be fitting if he won the Oscar, even though Denzel will probably win.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    She had five minutes in Out of Sight and she straight up stole the scene from Jennifer Lopez. That’s the first role of Davis’s where I remember thinking, “Who is that?“

  78. 78.

    raven

    I guess since OJ, Made in America is an ESPN 30 for 30 (even though it’s 7 hours long) most folks don’t know much about it. It truly is intense.

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Maybe the Horror of November caused the white members of the Academy to look a little harder at people outside the usual suspects.

  81. 81.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I havenā€™t seen anything she was in where she wasnā€™t good.

    She comes from the next town over (Central Falls RI). The town’s claim to fame in the 70s was the main cocaine and heroin transshipment center for New England. If she wins the local (Providence) news will lead with 10 minutes about it.
    They’ve got to do something to redeem themselves after the ball washing pieces they did about Flynn and Sphincter.

  85. 85.

    Michael Bersin

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Years ago I performed cello tracks for a Celtic harper’s CD, recorded in a studio with a Foley pit. Between takes the recording engineer kept the mics hot and fed them back to my headphones. Everyone should have a Foley pit they can play with.

  86. 86.

    mouse tolliver

    First winner who couldn’t accept an Oscar because of the Muslim ban. I know at least two nominees were barred from entering the country.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    The winner of Best Foreign Film is the guy who got stopped from entering the US to attend the awards because he was born in the wrong goddamned country.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @lamh36

    Uh-huh. Authors, painters and sculptors, musicians, dancers, etc. can just go jump in the lake.

    Talk about inflated ego.

  89. 89.

    patroclus

    The Iranian entry in the foreign language film category wins and the director boycotts, but sends a message attacking Trump! Very appropriate! I guess I have to see “The Salesman.”

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suzanne:

    I saw it. Yes, it’s emotional but not so draining that you can hardly walk out of the theatre. Not nearly as emotionally draining as the opera I saw yesterday afternoon (Rusalka, which when all is said and done is nothing more than The Little Mermaid set to lush Czech music). And MBTS, although it has its harrowing moments, is uplifting at the end. (Edited.)

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    The winner of Best Foreign Film is the guy who got stopped from entering the US to attend the awards because he was born in the wrong goddamned country.

    The double irony is that in some countries, making a film is considered an act of terrorism, and artists are enemies of the state.

  98. 98.

    efgoldman

    @raven:

    ā€œIfā€? Are you under a rock somewhere?

    I don’t watch this or any other awards show. I was responding to an earlier comment.
    Yes, yes I do. Got a nice, comfy den under a rock.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    Flipped on the tube and The Third Man is on TCM. There goes the next 90 minutes. Another film cannot not watch.

  102. 102.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: Viola should have been nominated for Best Actress, but of course the Academy rarely does well by Black actresses in that category…including Viola in her first two.

    How’s this for a sad fact, Viola is the most nominated Black actress in Academy history…she’s been nominated 3 times…think about that for a minute..

    The most nominated Black actor…Denzel Washington…5…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_with_two_or_more_Academy_Award_nominations_in_acting_categories

  103. 103.

    mouse tolliver

    Take My Breath Away.

    Why is all the exit/intro music songs from 80s movies? It used to be music from 50s and 60s movie. This means I’m getting old, and these 80s movies from my childhood are now considered “classics.”

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Uh-huh. Authors, painters and sculptors, musicians, dancers, etc. can just go jump in the lake.

    Talk about inflated ego.

    Authors, painters and sculptors, musicians, dancers, etc. are artists.

    Save your venom for Trump and Co., who are prepared to eliminate all funding for NEA, NEH, CPB, and other arts organisations.

  110. 110.

    Mike in NC

    The only nominated film we’ve seen so far was “Arrival”, the most pretentious sci-fi nonsense since “Prometheus”.

  113. 113.

    patroclus

    Gael Garcia Bernal – one of my all-time faves – just gave an emotional statement against walls of any kind!

  115. 115.

    efgoldman

    @mouse tolliver:

    This means Iā€™m getting old, and these 80s movies from my childhood are now considered ā€œclassics.ā€

    My daughter got all feblungett the other day because she heard a song from high school on an oldies station.
    She graduated in ’99.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:

    . The most nominated Black actorā€¦Denzel Washingtonā€¦5ā€¦

    What? Not Sidney Poitier?

    Denzel has won, what, 2 Oscars. But he has never won the Screen Actors Guild Award.

  118. 118.

    ThresherK

    @lamh36: I must humbly disagree.

    I remember Marni Nixon doing the “Kathy Selden” bit in South Pacific, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady. Conversely I cringed when Les Miz (never my favorite) was live-sung, and when Pierce Brosnan was made to sing in Mamma Mia.

    Strictly speaking, I don’t think a lack of trained, superb singing is the holding the movie musical back. I’d love to see someone like Audra McDonald in a movie musical. But who would make it, and why?

    When La La Land hits our local fancy college cinema, my wife and I will see it. I don’t see this as an industry-defining movie, even if it wins. I have my doubts about the musical movie form inasmuch as it’s a genre Hollywood’s sorta forgotten how to make and the odds of making one and having it be really great are slim.

    Lastly, it can’t be forgotten that, when they were a leading moneymaking form for studios, Oscar hated, hated, hated musical comedy. I don’t know what won Best Picture besides An American in Paris.

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @ThresherK:

    It’s funny, because I’m 180 degrees from there — even it bugs me in an animated film if the speaking and singing voices don’t match.

    Though Chris Jackson did such a great job in “Moana” that I didn’t realize it was him doing the father’s singing voice.

  128. 128.

    Lyrebird

    @efgoldman: OOOOH jealous…. He was my FAVE though my mom accused me of having a crush on Kermit. (Okay so I never saw what he saw in Miss Piggy, and I admit I spent some time pondering the question.)

    I LUUVVVV TRASSSSHHHHH!!

    And I trust other netizens will excerpt anything from the tee vee shows I really ought not to miss.

  130. 130.

    Brachiator

    @Darkrose:

    I very much hope Denzel wins, both because heā€™s Denzel and because Affleck is a sexual harrasser and an asshole.

    I did not know about Affleck’s issues before I saw the film. I’m kinda glad I didn’t. I think he is great in the film.

    I did not get a chance to see Fences, although I have seen the play.

  134. 134.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Mike in NC:

    Well, tastes differ. I like the writer whose story it was based on (John Scalzi) and thought the movie was compelling, intelligent and inventive.

  135. 135.

    lamh36

    @Brachiator: yeah…the SAG statistic was surprising to me as well. Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks are the finest actors of their generation and they STILL continually dolls out great and fantastic work…

    It’s funny I don’t think that they’ve never acted in another movie together since Philadelphia…I don’t know why I find that interesting.

  136. 136.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    The most nominated Black actorā€¦Denzel Washingtonā€¦5ā€¦

    If anyone had asked me, I would have guessed Sidney Poitier.

  138. 138.

    randy khan

    @efgoldman:

    When the first Star Wars came out in 1977, we saw it in a big, old fashioned theater with full Dolby surround ā€“ then just starting market penetration. Right at the beginning, when the star cruiser came from ā€œbehindā€ and ā€œover our headsā€ we were hooked.

    I have that exact memory from the first time I saw Star Wars – at the Loew’s Astor Plaza on 44th Street in Manhattan. I actually looked behind me.

  140. 140.

    Brachiator

    @ThresherK:

    None of those piker radio stations remember what oldies are. They used to play Enrico Caruso on Edison wax cylinders, dammit.

    A reminder. A milestone in the history of jazz, today.

    The first commercial jazz recording was by theĀ Original Dixieland Jass Band.Ā On Febrary 26, 1917 they recordedĀ Livery Stable BluesĀ andĀ Dixie Jass Band One-StepĀ for theĀ Victor Talking Machine Company.Ā They were released on March 7, 1917. The record became a hit, selling more than a million copies.

  141. 141.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @amk:

    I think it’s TOTALLY UNFAIR the #Oscars didn’t recognize Donald Trump’s performance in Pretending To Give A Shit About Black History Month

    #oscarssofascist

  142. 142.

    ThresherK

    @Mnemosyne: Well, Nixon had a knack for singing like the speaking voice of the actresses, (Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn), which kept her employed. I also recognize how many accents disappear when singing, so it doesn’t bother me that much.

    When it comes to acting, I don’t know if there are just as many memorable voices anymore. Bing Crosby spoke and sang with the same voice, as did Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Jimmy Cagney. Good luck to anyone trying to imitate them!

    And do you really carry the singing voice of a Van Johnson, Dick Powell, Kathryn Grayson or such around in your head? I would need to watch a half hour or so to refresh myself.

  145. 145.

    efgoldman

    @Lyrebird:

    I never saw what he saw in Miss Piggy

    For kids of a certain age (my daughter was one) there was a disconnect between Sesame Street Kermit and The Muppet Show.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    Trivia time. Never nominated:

    Edward G. Robinson
    Errol Flynn
    Joseph Cotten
    Kim Novak
    Peter Lorre
    Myrna Loy
    Maureen O’Hara
    Boris Karloff
    Marilyn Monroe
    Fred MacMurray
    Gene Kelly
    Tyrone Power

    Nominated, never won:

    Great Garbo
    Richard Burton
    Claude Rains
    Glenn Close
    Montgomery Clift
    Barbara Stanwyck
    Albert Finney
    John Garfield
    Fred Astaire
    Lillian Gish
    Cary Grant
    Kirk Douglas
    Angela Lansbury
    Eli Wallach
    Anthony Perkins
    Steve McQueen
    Walter Pidgeon
    William Powell
    James Mason
    Agnes Moorhead
    Peter O’Toole

    Among others.

  150. 150.

    lamh36

    @Brachiator: I did know about Afleck before the film…alot of female centric blogs I frequent discussed it many times before and when it happened.

    But it didn’t become “a thing” for some people, until the Nate Parker story broke (another story that I had already heard bout from my blogroll) and people were right or wrongly pointing to the hypocrisy that makes any form of harrassment against women, palpable just because it comes in a white package with a big wig Hollywood brother and his best friend in his pocket.

    If Casey wins (as he likely will) I cringe to even hear his acceptance speech

    ETA: Nate Parker thing was horrible and he deserved every blackballing he got for it…just saying, no such thing, including what Casey did should be acceptable.

  151. 151.

    randy khan

    @lamh36:

    Viola should have been nominated for Best Actress, but of course the Academy rarely does well by Black actresses in that categoryā€¦including Viola in her first two.

    Generally the producers decide what category, not the Academy (occasionally the Academy disagrees, but it’s pretty rare). And sometimes the nominations are strategic – filmmakers choose to nominate someone in a category because they think she’ll have a better chance as best supporting actress than best actress.

  153. 153.

    Lyrebird

    @efgoldman: Yeah, I think I’m not too many years older than your daughter, and I liked The Muppet Show better as a whole, but not that dynamic. We used to joke that the Pigs In Spaaaaaaace segment was about our rather spacy selves.

  154. 154.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I graduated the year before your daughter and I hear 90s stuff on the oldies station with some regularity.

    However, I think Limp Bizkit has fallen into the circular file. Thank FSM.

  155. 155.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @gwangung:

    Thanks for the 411. I misread Scalzi in his blog. He said something about liking the author and I thought he was being coy. My error!

  156. 156.

    Jay Noble

    @efgoldman: That awesome Star Wars opening owes that sound to another humble George Lucas film ā€“ American Graffiti. Unbelievable, no one had done the sound to be as natural as you would hear when a car passed by before that. (The things you learn from those Special Edition DVDs!)

  158. 158.

    sigaba

    @Elizabelle:

    And just in time for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. I know weā€™ve been waiting for this one all week.

    NOTE ELIZABELLE: AT LEAST ONE SOUND EDITOR AND SOUND MIXER READS THESE COMMENTS

    Kevin O’Connell won! This is his first Oscar after being in the business for like 30 years and having been nominated almost 20 times. A few years ago he was nominated for Apocalypto, and he had a horrible week where his mother died and he lost to Chicago. This is a huge vindication.

    I’m pleasantly surprised by the tasteful politics of the speeches.

  161. 161.

    Brachiator

    @efgoldman:

    When the first Star Wars came out in 1977, we saw it in a big, old fashioned theater with full Dolby surround ā€“ then just starting market penetration. Right at the beginning, when the star cruiser came from ā€œbehindā€ and ā€œover our headsā€ we were hooked.

    Yes! I saw it at the magnificent Graumann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. That opening scene almost brought the house down. I saw it opening day, and it soon dawned on me that people had seen the film and came out and immediately bought tickets for the next available show.

  162. 162.

    ThresherK

    @SiubhanDuinne: Dang, of course. That was pedigreed to the nth degree as an adaptation from a critically and commerically stage musical, which was funny but had quite a base of drama.

    Plus a British source, setting, and lead male star. (And a Brit female lead originated on the stage.) Oscar does love Britons, especially when on a Hollywood budget.

    —

    @Brachiator: Good reminder.

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Sometimes the littlest thing will smack one upside the head about how much time has passed.

    Was paging through one of the alumni magazines that show up in the mail and remembered that the class notes section’s earliest listing in the first issue I was sent began in the 1880s. Now the earliest class listed is from the mid-1930s.

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:

    . ETA: Nate Parker thing was horrible and he deserved every blackballing he got for itā€¦just saying, no such thing, including what Casey did should be acceptable.

    People have to decide how they deal with artists who have done terrible things. Roman Polanski and maybe Woody Allen are other examples. They still make movies and still win awards.

  171. 171.

    lamh36

    @Brachiator: Right…and folks STILL clamor to do films directed by both those guys. Hell look at Mel Gibson (I know not “women” issues) and his anti-semitic bullshit…It’s been what 8 years…and already Hollywood is like we like Mel again?

  174. 174.

    Mike J

    @dm: Question one:

    1) WHICH ACCOMPLISHMENT(S) DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SO FAR?

    Is Trump a great president, or the greatest president?

  178. 178.

    Brachiator

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What did he do? I missed it.

    Others may know the details better than I do. I don’t want to say something that would be unfair to him or to the women that he may have behaved horribly towards.

  180. 180.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Oh, Gibson has women issues, too — his ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence and posted photos to back up her story. But somebody was willing to give him money to make a movie. Given the connections he formed after “The Passion of the Christ,” I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a group of Christianists.

  181. 181.

    ThresherK

    @Michael Bersin: Fine, but my case was never “Let’s cast Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in a musical. And let them do their own singing.”

    I’m suprised anyone would own up to having said that after the first audience preview. Before the turn of the millenium, Paint Your Wagon was one of the 25 money-losingest movies (infl. adj.) of all time. (Nowadays the budgets of everything are so out of proportion that it’s almost not even the same currency. So many ordinary movies are so expensive that the list gets rearranged eveyr couple years.)

    —

    @SiubhanDuinne: Chicago counts, and Oliver. . However this does illustrate the divergence of Best Picture Oscar musicals, and popular taste. TSOM was a money-maker, I think Oliver was. But Hollywood got burnt with too many Darling Lilis and such, and within a decade of that, commercial successes like Grease or Saturday Night Fever were not Oscar-bait.

  184. 184.

    efgoldman

    @Brachiator:

    I saw it opening day, and it soon dawned on me that people had seen the film and came out and immediately bought tickets for the next available show.

    We saw it again at a mallplex about a month later. They had the Dolby installed as well.

  189. 189.

    hovercraft

    @dm:
    But we don’t want to hear from him, unless it’s to tell us that he’s taking his marbles and going home to spend more time with his family, and he’s taking Dense with him.

  190. 190.

    efgoldman

    @Mike J:

    WHICH ACCOMPLISHMENT(S) DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SO FAR?

    That no-one has been arrested…. yet.

  192. 192.

    patroclus

    Away out here, they got a name, for rain and wind and fire. The rain is Tess, the fire’s Joe and they call the wind Maria.

  193. 193.

    mouse tolliver

    @lamh36: Mel also called Winona Ryder an “oven dodger” after he realized she was Jewish. Inuslted her gay friend. He was drunk at the time. And this must’ve happened around the same time as Little Women and Braveheart were up for Oscars. No one believed her until the sugar tits incident.

  194. 194.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Left the first viewing and immediately headed two doors down to a record shop to buy the soundtrack double album (still have it).

    Dragged the step-brother, kicking and screaming, to see the movie when I went the next day for a second viewing.

  198. 198.

    dm

    @Mike J: “Significant” doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. A giant meteor approaching the Earth is “significant”, after all.

    But anyway, the box for “your ideas to make America great again” has plenty of room for “Trump could resign”.

    I’ve only seen a couple of movies this past year, so I have no opinion on the Oscars. Well, maybe the director of Arrival could get best director, I guess. Is there an Oscar for best adapting a work in another medium? Arrival was a pretty good adaptation of the original.

    To my shame, I haven’t even seen Hidden Figures.

    (I didn’t even get Adam’s joke until I looked into the comments and saw that it’s Oscar night.)

  199. 199.

    sigaba

    @lamh36: Mel Gibson is another example, as Nate Parker and Roman Polanski, of a great director who’s said and done reprehensible things.

  202. 202.

    hovercraft

    @Mnemosyne:
    Hey he is doing his part for humanity, I saw him on the pre-show, and his wife/girlfriend just gave birth to his 9th child, christianist love that. But I think Kimmel made a crack about Scientology working well for him, so not sure if he’s still a Catholic.

  205. 205.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @mouse tolliver:

    I almost wonder if he had a head injury or mental illness with quick onset; his personality seemed to change so fast. Then again, maybe he just his his sexism and anti-semitism very well.

  206. 206.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    When the first Star Wars came out in 1977, we saw it in a big, old fashioned theater with full Dolby surround ā€“ then just starting market penetration. Right at the beginning, when the star cruiser came from ā€œbehindā€ and ā€œover our headsā€ we were hooked.

    I can still see it in my head, it was outstanding. (I don’t recall if I said “Holy shit” when the star cruiser passed overhead. And kept passing overhead.) I think I saw it at the Sack Cheri, or perhaps another theater on Boylston, across from the Pru.

  209. 209.

    Adam L Silverman

    Fresh Oscar’s Open Thread II up. I hope this thing ends soon or I’m going to run out of Oscars…

  210. 210.

    NotMax

    @amk

    Depends on how capacious one’s umbrella of porn is.

    Midnight Cowboy (rated X when released, changed to R later on) won Best Picture. Last Tango in Paris got 2 nominations.

  211. 211.

    sigaba

    @amk:

    Is porn ever good enough for oscars?

    Blue is the Warmest Color, Nymphomaniac… Basic Instinct had two AA nominations.

  215. 215.

    efgoldman

    @SFAW:

    I think I saw it at the Sack Cheri, or perhaps another theater on Boylston, across from the Pru.

    We were at the Charles (long gone) on a weekday afternoon in July. The outside temp was ~95, but the a/c was wonderful. We were literally the only ones in the theater. Sat in the center, first row of the back half after the crossways aisle – best seats in the auditorium.
    We also saw the world premier of Amadeus there. Theater was a lot more crowded and also better dressed. Milos Forman was a few seats over, taking notes. (It was a charity event; freebies came thru the radio station)

  216. 216.

    leeleeFL

    @patroclus: Basically the same as the Talmud. ” He who saves a life, saves the world entire.”. Ben Kingsley’s line from Schindler’s List.

  217. 217.

    mouse tolliver

    @amk: A while back Mark Rylance appeared in a movie where he had actual sex with his co-star, making him the first Academy Award winning actor with a hardcore sex scene on his resume.

  218. 218.

    JGabriel

    via Mike J:

    1) WHICH ACCOMPLISHMENT(S) DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SO FAR?

    Guaranteeing bad relations between the US, under any future Democratic administration, and Russia, for however so long Putin reigns.

  222. 222.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    Great story, I’m envious.

    Just did some research, I think it was the Paris cinema where I saw Star Wars. But, since my memory is getting pretty flaky, who knows?

  224. 224.

    leeleeFL

    @Mnemosyne: No, she said the Koran. And that is likely….Same place, different era, but the ideas were, and are, the same. We need to save each other or we will all perish. Good times.

Comments are closed.