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The Oscar Quest: Best Actor & Best Actress – 2004

These two were pretty much a foregone conclusion. Everyone in the world knew that Jamie Foxx couldn’t lose. His Ray Charles was astounding, so he deserved this all the way. There really wasn’t anyone who could have beaten him. And in Actress, someone thought it was a good idea to make the race about Hilary vs. Annette Round Two instead of about the actress who was actually the most deserving in the race — so, that was pretty clear cut as well (Annette was not winning).

I really don’t have all too much to say here, since the Academy got one of them right, and one of them wrong. But the one they got wrong is one they’d normally get wrong, and it’s only made worse by the fact that she’s won one already and isn’t that good of an actress to have two.

Best Actor – 2004

And the nominees were…

Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda

Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator

Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby

Jamie Foxx, Ray Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 11, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “If what I think is happening, IS happening…It better not be.”

Posted by  |  February 11, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress- 2004

2004 was a weird year. In fact, it may be the closest approximation to 2010 that we have from the past decade. In 2004, a veteran beat an electric supporting performance by a younger man in Supporting (which may or may not happen later this month), a female so inhabited her character that people had no choice to vote for her over the young “up-and-comer” who was astounding in her film (which, Natalie Portman was a veteran by this point, having been acting for a decade, but to the Academy she was essentially an up-and-comer), and the Best Picture went to a film that was an “in-the-moment” film that no one even remembers 6 years out, despite the fact that a brilliant piece of filmmaking went completely overlooked.

I remember being back in 2004, being swept up, like the Academy, by Million Dollar Baby, thinking it was a great and emotional film. Now, I look back and think, “What the fuck was I thinking? The Aviator is a brilliant movie.” I remember even rooting for Eastwood over Scorsese that year just because Scorsese was the huge favorite to win. How stupid was I? Granted, I was only 16, but still, that was so stupid of me. Anyway, let’s get supportive.

Best Supporting Actor – 2004

And the nominees were…

Alan Alda, The Aviator

Thomas Haden Church, Sideways

Jamie Foxx, Collateral

Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby

Clive Owen, Closer Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 10, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pic of the Day: “Oh, someone has seen her, all right. Someone always sees a girl with $40,000.”

Posted by  |  February 10, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Picture & Best Director – 2003

Was there really any surprise here?

Best Picture – 2003

And the nominees were…

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (New Line Cinema)

Lost in Translation (Focus Features)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Fox, Miramax, Universal)

Mystic River (Warner Bros.)

Seabiscuit (Universal, DreamWorks)

Return of the King — Clearly worth it. The entire trilogy gets one big Oscar. That’s absolutely fine, because it is a brilliant piece(s) of filmmaking. Sure, the CG is dated, but it’s still a great feat that deserved some recognition. No one can really disagree with this one.

Lost in Translation — A great, great film, but not one anyone can vote for knowing Rings is also involved. It deserved the Screenplay win and all the good will people have toward it. It is a great movie, but never a Best Picture winner. This is exactly how it should have ended up. Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 9, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “Why, you speak treason!” “Fluently.”

Posted by  |  February 9, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Actor & Best Actress – 2003

These were fun. The Best Actress race was over from the second they announced the nominees. But the Best Actor race was essentially between two people, even though people like myself were voting for the “never gonna happen” nominee.

Best Actor – 2003

And the nominees were…

Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Ben Kingsley, The House of Sand and Fog

Jude Law, Cold Mountain

Bill Murray, Lost in Translation

Sean Penn, Mystic River Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 8, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: “I would like you to call me. Would you do that? I’d like it.”

Posted by  |  February 8, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress – 2003

Ah, 2003…the year where everything was obvious but the acting categories…and even those were pretty clear cut (and boring).

This was my first real “Oscar” year. I remember having people i was rooting for, even though going in, there were clear cut favorites that everyone expected to win. And pretty much all of them did, which made the whole ceremony pretty clear cut (much like I’m expecting this year’s ceremony to be).

In fact, looking at it, 3 out of the 4 acting wins were by veterans/overdue actors, and the fourth was — well, Charlize Theron.

Let’s just get into it, before I lament their decisions any further before I start talking about them.

Best Supporting Actor – 2003

And the nominees were…

Alec Baldwin, The Cooler

Benicio del Toro, 21 Grams

Djimon Hounsou, In America

Tim Robbins, Mystic River

Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 7, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “The only good thing you ever did for the gals was get hit by that train!”

Posted by  |  February 7, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment