The Oscars

[Rexfelis]

Best Picture
The Aviator

Finding Neverland

Million Dollar Baby <---- winner

Ray

Sideways


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby <-----winner

Taylor Hackford, Ray

Mike Leigh, Vera Drake

Alexander Payne, Sideways

Martin Scorsese, The Aviator


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Actor
Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda

Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator

Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby

Jamie Foxx, Ray <-----winner


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Actress
Annette Bening, Being Julia

Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace

Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake

Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby <-----winner

Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Alda, The Aviator

Thomas Haden Church, Sideways

Jamie Foxx, Collateral

Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby <-----winner

Clive Owen, Closer


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, The Aviator <-----winner

Laura Linney, Kinsey

Virginia Madsen, Sideways

Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda

Natalie Portman, Closer

Best Original Screenplay
The Aviator, John Logan

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Charlie Kaufman <-----winner

Hotel Rwanda, Keir Pearson & Terry George

The Incredibles, Brad Bird

Vera Drake, Mike Leigh


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Adapted Screenplay
Before Sunset, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

Finding Neverland, David Magee

Million Dollar Baby, Paul Haggis

The Motorcycle Diaries, José Rivera

Sideways, Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor <-----winner


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Animated Feature
The Incredibles <-----winner

Shark Tale

Shrek 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best Foreign-Language Film
As It Is in Heaven (Sweden)

The Chorus (Les Choristes) (France)

Downfall (Germany)

The Sea Inside (Spain) <-----winner

Yesterday (South Africa)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Art Direction
The Aviator <-----winner

House of Flying Daggers

The Passion of the Christ

The Phantom of the Opera

A Very Long Engagement


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cinematography
The Aviator <-----winner

House of Flying Daggers

The Passion of the Christ

The Phantom of the Opera

Costume Design
The Aviator <-----winner

Finding Neverland

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Ray

Troy


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentary Feature
Born into Brothels <-----winner

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Super Size Me

Tupac: Resurrection

Twist of Faith


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentary Short
Autism Is a World

The Children of Leningradsky

Hardwood

Mighty Times: The Children's March <-----winner

Sister Rose's Passion


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Film Editing
The Aviator <-----winner

Collateral

Finding Neverland

Million Dollar Baby

Ray


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Makeup
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events <-----winner

The Passion of the Christ

The Sea Inside


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Score
Finding Neverland, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek <-----winner

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, John Williams

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Thomas Newman

The Passion of the Christ, John Debney

The Village, James Newton Howard


Original Song
"Accidentally in Love" (Shrek 2), Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Mallery and David Bryson; lyrics by Adam Duritz and Daniel Vickrey

"Al Otro Lado Del Río" (The Motorcycle Diaries), Jorge Drexler <-----winner

"Believe" (Polar Express), Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri

"Learn to Be Lonely" (The Phantom of the Opera), music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; lyrics by Charles Hart

"Vois Sur Ton Chemin" (The Chorus), music by Bruno Coulais; lyrics by Christophe Barratier


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animated Short
Birthday Boy

Gopher Broke

Guard Dog

Lorenzo

Ryan <-----winner


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live-Action Short
Everything in This Country Must

Little Terrorist

7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana)

Two Cars, One Night

Wasp <-----winner


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound Editing
The Incredibles <-----winner

The Polar Express

Spider-Man 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound Mixing
The Aviator

The Incredibles

The Polar Express

Ray <-----winner

Spider-Man 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I, Robot

Spider-Man 2 <-----winner


My Take on the 77th:

I won't even try to disguise my disappointment with this chapter in the Academy Awards. While I normally enjoy Chris Rock, it just didn't feel right. Chris didn't make it feel glamourous, he made it feel irreverent (which is normally a great thing), however not here. The Academy Awards are to be taken as serious business, which is why someone like Billy Crystal or Steve Martin can make such a small thing seem so damn funny. The Academy Awards should not be overtly "current" or "hip". It is the ultimate standard of standards for award shows and ceremonies.

Don't get me started...

Chris Rock did have it right with his comment on subsequent AA's setting up a drive-thru for winners.

Here's how this shit is supposed to work: The nominees should be announced by a presenter ON STAGE. The cameras should then focus on the faces of the nominees in the crowd. The presenter should then announce the name of the winner ON STAGE. Then, the winner should walk to, and accept their Oscar, ON STAGE! All this business of breaking up the presentation, announcement and awarding on the balcony, in the crowd, from the craft service table, from inside a shitter stall gave the 77th all the formality of the VH1 Makeup Awards.

But seriously, the biggest mistake, the single catalyst for moving the 77th into the discount-bin of award ceremonies was P. Fuckin' Diddy. What the FUCK does Puffy have to do with the AA's, or acting for that matter? Not a fucking thing. Hey, guess what? Good ole, flabby white, beige cord and brown T-shirt wearing me is gonna be presenting ALL the awards at the next Soul Train R&B and Hip-Hop Awards! What do I know about good R&B and Hip-Hop? That's right: FUCK ALL!

Don't get me started...

For the rest of it, in the majority, technical went to "The Aviator" and creative/performance went to "Million Dollar Baby". Clint Eastwood must be cherished, however I will say this: first, erase Clint Eastwood's body of work. Then, erase Martin Scorsese's body of work. Now, it should be easy to figure out which of the two elevated entire medium, by the vacancies that come to mind should either of the two never had contributed. Yes, yes....it's not a question of summarizing their piece-meal contributions, but what has to happen for the man to get his due? Hopefully his isn't a posthumous awarding.

Oh well, perhaps next year P. Diddy will be hosting and I can just take a really long shit instead...

[smokah]

AA's are fucking done. The lack of nominations for Paul Giamatti and Jim Carrey alone are enough to prove that the entire concept is flawed. Plain and simple: Scorsese deserves the award, but Eastwood's film was better, as has been the case in all the other instances this has come up (with the sole exception being Raging Bull.. that should have been his). And I agree; I see a posthumous "best director lolz" in the coming years, and it will be just another nail in the coffin for this award show.

[Szlia]

Like I said elsewhere, the problem with the Academy Awards is that they manage to somehow make us beleive they are important, so we care about the results even if we know that year after year these results will piss us off. Because, considering the voting pool, both in nature and size, it can only piss us off.

[Zarcath]

I can't believe Aviator took home so many awards (5 or 6 was it?). Then again, 2004 was a crappy year for movies. The nominations make me sick, it's like every one that Aviator and Million Dollar Baby could fit into they were there.

Seriously, it was either Ray, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Neverland or Aviator.

Also disappointed at the use of Chris Rock, he has no acting skill at all. I remember when hosting award shows used to be an honor, now they just grab whoever is "in". Chris rock isn't even "in" anymore he might have been hip 6 years ago.

They should just do it like American Idol. Commitee can vote the top 10 in, then let America decide.

[Cybsled]

Out of all the "Best Pictures" that were nominated, Sideways was my favorite.

Eternal Sunshine should have replaced Ray or Finding Neverland in that list.

[Samus Aran]

Leo or Don Cheadle should have won best actor. They got fucking robbed.

Its such bullshit when 90% of the black entertainers in Hollywood come out to support Jamie Foxx in Ray and say he should win because blacks have been under represented in Hollywood. But hardly any of them fucking say a word to support Don Cheadle whom was also nominated for best actor. I think the only black actor that came out and said he believed Don Cheadle should win was Samuel L. Jackson. Oh well, at least he got nominated.

[Whyme]

I was personally rooting for Sideways to get best picture, but MDB is the next best thing really. I didn't agree with Jamie Foxx winning either -- as good as he was in Ray, watching the movie again on DVD, the acting just felt very gimmicky. He looks like ray, he can talk like ray and he can sing like ray -- you'd have to be a retarded chimp to fuck that role up. I'm glad Mr. Freeman finally got his oscar though. That man was beyond due.

I also agree with the whole chris rock/p diddy thing. The reason they did that was so they could try to appeal to a younger audience (which they admitted flat-out), but that's the whole thing. AA's are not the fucking MTV movie awards. I want subtlety. I want humor, but moderately restrained. Most of all, I want a CLASSY fucking awards show.

[Rexfelis]

Its such bullshit when 90% of the black entertainers in Hollywood come out to support Jamie Foxx in Ray and say he should win because blacks have been under represented in Hollywood. But hardly any of them fucking say a word to support Don Cheadle whom was also nominated for best actor. I think the only black actor that came out and said he believed Don Cheadle should win was Samuel L. Jackson.

That's a very good point Brit and makes you wonder how the whole mechanism works.

On one hand, we have a superbly talented black actor who has been performing at a high, consistent level for some time. This actor tackles a role about a man who acted selflessly to save lives.

On the other hand, we have a popular actor who, although he has been performing for some time, only recently started showing serious promise. This actor tackles a role about a popular singer who, aside from his great music, was known for his drug abuse, womanizing and selfishness.

I'm guessing, at the end of the day, Sidney and Oprah both liked Jamie better.

And once more, I have to complain about Puffy. Does he think that he is part of Hollywood royalty now? Is he going to start worming his way into "serious" movies in an attempt to actually get nominated? Could the Academy be so bereft of integrity to allow this to happen? Is there anything in Nostradamus' ramblings about this!??! Christ...

[Ham n Cheese]

Sideways and Eternal Sunshine were the best movies I saw last year, only one of them got nominated (Happy Kaufman won at least) and didn't win, so I was sad. I can't understand everyone's obsession with MDB though.

I thought the Best Actor category was pretty strong this year (and should've included Giamatti and Carey) despite the lackluster movies out there. I remember thinking I wouldn't mind if any of them won. I felt Depp had done better work than his last two nominations (Pirates/Neverland) in Blow, but was probably the least deserving out of the group this year.

[Fadaar]

Was disappoined Jamie Foxx didn't win for supporting actor in Collateral, but was still happy that Freeman won. Never knew that he hadn't won an Oscar, bout fucking time I say.

[Thorpe]

Bring back Billy Crystal!

[Cybsled]

Well, at least The Incredibles won for best animated ;p

[Vorph]

Originally posted by Rexfelis

For the rest of it, in the majority, technical went to "The Aviator" and creative/performance went to "Million Dollar Baby". Clint Eastwood must be cherished, however I will say this: first, erase Clint Eastwood's body of work. Then, erase Martin Scorsese's body of work. Now, it should be easy to figure out which of the two elevated entire medium, by the vacancies that come to mind should either of the two never had contributed. Yes, yes....it's not a question of summarizing their piece-meal contributions, but what has to happen for the man to get his due? Hopefully his isn't a posthumous awarding.

For some sort of Lifetime Achievement award, sure Scorsese wins hands down.

I hate it when they give someone an Oscar because the Academy feels that so and so deserves one (Denzel for Training Day probably being the worst example here), and not because the movie/performance was actually the best. Eastwood made the better movie this year, why should he get screwed out of the Oscar because Scorsese is due one?

I would say what needs to happen for Scorsese to "get his due" is for him to actually make another movie which is even half as great as the ones that he actually deserved to win the award for, but didn't. Another Leonardo movie, this time glorifying a man who was a blight on this country for most of his life (conveniently the movie doesn't cover what kind of person Hughes was from the 50s on) is not the way to do it.

[Szlia]

On a side note, the day before the Oscars, a french equivalent takes place called the Césars (by the name of the sculptor that did the award). I am not sure of the voting system, but I think it is a mix between a huge jury of professionals of the movie indutry (like 5k people) and a small selected jury. Anyway, no one ever watches the Césars, because it's just as irritating as the Oscars, without the aura of the Oscars.

Well... it seems 2005 would have been the ones to watch. Best film, best director, best scenario and best actress went to L'Esquive, a shoestring budget movie (filmed in DV) about some children of the suburbs working on a play from Marivaux (let's say a Shakespear equivalent). The film works on the contrast between the different langages (the popular one of the children, the academic one of their teacher and the classic one of Marivaux) and the universality and timelessness of the play (romantic schemes and missunderstandings).

Best actor went to Mathieu Amalric in Rois et reine (a UFO from one of the major french art house author), who delivers a stellar comedic performance in the role of a hip-hop loving, break dancing, professional violonist sent into a asylum.

The technicals went to the main stream bullshit (Les choristes - nominated as best foreign film in the AAs - Un long week-end de fiancaille).

Results with balls and a spine! OMG!

[Cybsled]

Lemme guess what happens in the end of that French movie...

The "main" kid DIES!!