Chicago leads with 13 nominations and will likely win virtually everything (it is a really great, entertaining movie), and Michael Moore gets his long-sought-after Best Documentary nomination. BEST PICTURE • Chicago • Gangs of New York • The Hours • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • The Pianist DIRECTOR • Rob Marshall, Chicago • Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York • Stephen Daldry, The Hours • Roman Polanski, The Pianist • Pedro Almodovar, Talk to Her ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE • Adrien Brody, The Pianist • Nicholas Cage, Adaptation • Michael Caine, The Quiet American • Daniel Day Lewis, Gangs of New York • Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE • Salma Hayek, Frida • Nicole Kidman, The Hours • Diane Lane, Unfaithful • Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven • Renee Zellweger, Chicago ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE • Chris Cooper, Adaptation • Ed Harris, The Hours • Paul Newman, Road to Perdition • John C. Reilly, Chicago • Christopher Walken, Catch Me if You Can ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE • Kathy Bates, About Schmidt • Julianne Moore, The Hours • Queen Latifah, Chicago • Meryl Streep, Adaptation • Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Far From Heaven • Gangs of New York • My Big Fat Greek Wedding • Talk to Her • Y Tu Mama Tambien ADAPTED SCREENPLAY • About a Boy • Adaptation • Chicago • The Hours • The Pianist FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM • El Crimen del Padre Amaro • Hero • The Man Without a Past • Nowhere in Africa • Zus and Zo ANIMATED FEATURE • Ice Age • Lilo and Stitch • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron • Spirited Away • Treasure Planet ORIGINAL SCORE • Catch Me if You Can • Far From Heaven • Frida • The Hours • Road to Perdition ORIGINAL SONG • Chicago • 8 Mile • Frida • Gangs of New York • The Wild Thornberrys Movies ART DIRECTION • Chicago • Frida • Gangs of New York • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • Road to Perdition CINEMATOGRAPHY • Chicago • Far From Heaven • Gangs of New York • The Pianist • Road to Perdition COSTUME DESIGN • Chicago • Frida • Gangs of New York • The Hours • The Pianist MAKEUP • Frida • The Time Machine DOCUMENTARY FEATURE • Bowling for Columbine • Daughter From Danang • Prisoner of Paradise • Spellbound • Winged Migration SOUND • Chicago • Gangs of New York • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • Road to Perdition • Spider-Man SOUND EDITING • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • Minority Report • Road to Perdition VISUAL EFFECTS • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • Spider-Man • Star Wars: Episode II –Attack of the Clones FILM EDITING • Chicago • Gangs of New York • The Hours • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • The Pianist SHORT FILM – ANIMATED • The Cathedral • The Chubbchubbs! • Das Rad • Mike's New Car • Mt. Head SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION • Fait D'Hiver • I'll Wait for the Next One • Inja (Dog) • Johnny Flynton • This Charming Man DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT • The Collector of Bedford Street • Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks • Twin Towers • Why Can't We Be a Family Again?
2003 Oscar Nominations http://movies.yahoo.com/oscars/news/apo/2003211/104498298000.html Best Picture: Chicago Gangs of New York The Hours The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Pianist Best Actor: Adrien Brody -- "The Pianist" Nicholas Cage -- "Adaptation" Michael Caine -- "The Quiet American" Daniel Day-Lewis -- "Gangs of New York Jack Nicholson -- "About Schmidt" Best Actress Nicole Kidman -- "The Hours" Renee Zellweger -- "Chicago" Diane Lane -- "Unfaithful" Julianne Moore -- "Far From Heaven" Salma Hayek -- "Frida" Best Supporting Actor Chris Cooper -- "Adaptation" Ed Harris-- "The Hours" Paul Newman -- "Road To Perdition" John C. Reilly -- "Chicago" Christopher Walken -- "Catch Me If You Can" Best Supporting Actress Kathy Bates -- "About Schmidt" Julianne Moore -- "The Hours" Meryl Streep -- "Adaptation" Queen Latifah -- "Chicago" Catherine Zeta-Jones -- "Chicago" Best Director Rob Marshall -- "Chicago" Martin Scorsese -- "Gangs of New York" Stephen Daldry -- "The Hours" Roman Polanski -- "The Pianist" Pedro Almodovar -- "Talk to Her" Frankly, I think, a crummy year, although I've actually only seen Gangs as far as Best Picture nominees. But other than maybe the Pianist, I don't rally want to see the others. The biggest omission, from the films that I saw this year, was Sam Rockwell as actor for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. My favorite film of the year was Solaris. Maybe if they had re-imagined the original as a shallow, crowd-pleasing song-and-dance, it would have gotten some attention.
Well, Obie, Great minds think alike.I just started the same thread. Mods, please roll them into one, if you would be so kind.
Some early thoughts: -- There isn't a real stinker in the bunch this year among the BP nominations, which is a bit of a shock. I personally didn't like The Hours or Gangs too much, but they're not awful in the Gladiator tradition. -- Ghost, your dismissal of Chicago in your other thread without seeing it is, well, a bit unfair. I loved the Broadway production of this and thought that the movie would pale in comparison, but it doesn't. It is massively entertaining, and not in a Spider-Man or Rob Schneider flick sort of way. It's mean-spirited fun, it's sexy without being tawdry, and even Richard Gere (who I hate in everything) is good in it. It will likely win, and for the first time in a long long time I would agree. -- Big losers this morning: Antwone Fisher, Road to Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 25th Hour. Adaptation, About Schmidt and Far From Heaven all at least got lead acting nominations. I agree that Sam Rockwell is great as Barris, but I would also put in a call for Ed Norton in 25th Hour. -- No City of God or 8 Women in the Best Foreign category. And for those of you who are wondering where Y Tu Mama Tambien is, it was not submitted for nomination by Mexico. El Crimen Del Padre Amaro was, and it was nominated. -- The Best Doc category once again confounds virtually everybody, because it doesn't have Shadows of Motown or The Kid Stays In The Picture or Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary.
Thank gawd that the crap "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" only got one nom. "Far From Heaven" and "Signs" were robbed. "Chicago," a very average musical, received 13 nominations. I hope this signals the return of the musical. It's time to get rid of the Best Editing category. Nobody in the Academy even understands what film editing is. All they do is nominate the best picture nominees.
Signs wasn't going to get any. VERY RARELY is a film released in August nominated. Just like Television has sweeps, the film industry has certain months that are more powerful: May (Gladiator), July, October(American Beauty), December (Shakespeare in Love), and January (A Beautiful Mind) Keep in min, as long as a film is open in one city in December, it is eligible, nationwide release can take place in January). August is the month for crap movies. I think in the history of film, only 6 or 7 films released in August have earned over 100 millions at the box office.
I would've nominated Norton too. And the film should've gotten an Adapted Screenplay nod. Road To Perdition was going to get robbed because of its spring release and I'm surprised they didn't do a re-release in the winter. At least it got Art Direction and Cinematography - absolutely one of the most beautiful films in recent memory. Question: if Adaptation wins for Best Adapted Screenplay, will both Charlie and Donald Kauffman get statuettes?
Obie: RE: Chicago Actually, if I had to guess which of the best picture nominees I would most like to see, I would guess Chicago or The Pianist. Much more appealing (from afar) than the Two Towers (didn't like the original) or The Hours (looks like the a ponderous feminist railing against the patriarchy that's convinced of its own importance.). And I mildly disliked Gangs. But I've been frustrated by the recent Disneyfying of the Oscars. While the Best Picture has rarely ever been the best picture, it usually was a pretty good film that had a level of adult seriousness to it. I think the recent have started going away from seriousness, and in the direction of sheer entertainment. So that's why Chicago is drawing my wrath this morning, more as a signal of a trend than as a judgment of the quality of the film itself. .
If both are nominated, both receive. The studios get to choose who gets nominated, so for Best Original Sound, hundreds may work, but only four get nominated, etc. Those four receive statues and credit.
Oscars.org says: Adaptation Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman I really hope it wins and Kaufman comes up with acceptance speeches for both Charlie and Donald.
Chicago is a movie that, if you don't like musicals, you will hate regardless. It's like sci fi or Western or fantasy -- you either have an inclination toward that sort of thing or you don't. With that said, as far as movie musicals go Chicago is very very good. The Hours has a feminist bent to it, but really it's about how far women's liberation has come since the days of Wolff and the 1950s. But it's also about how women's liberation has affected others. It's not preachy, and it's not terrible, but I didn't think it was a masterpiece, either. The idea of the entertaining film winning over the "important" film has a long and rich Oscar history. Just for an example, take the 1960s: 1960 - The Apartment 1961 - West Side Story 1962 - Laurence of Arabia 1963 - Tom Jones 1964 - My Fair Lady 1965 - The Sound of Music 1966 - A Man For All Seasons 1967 - In The Heat Of The Night 1968 - Oliver! (considered by many to be the worst BP winner ever) 1969 - Midnight Cowboy That's one comedy and four musicals in ten years. Compare that to the 1990s, when 9.5 dramas (Shakespeare in Love is the other 0.5) won. And the vast majority of them were "epics" -- Titanic, English Patient, Braveheart, Dances With Wolves, Schindler's List, Unforgiven. If anything, Oscars are awarding more bloated bombastic crap and less truly entertaining films.
Unfortunately, I've read that Donald will not receive a second statue if the Adaptation screenplay wins the Oscar.
Originally posted by obie -- Ghost, your dismissal of Chicago in your other thread without seeing it is, well, a bit unfair. I loved the Broadway production of this and thought that the movie would pale in comparison, but it doesn't. It is massively entertaining, and not in a Spider-Man or Rob Schneider flick sort of way. It's mean-spirited fun, it's sexy without being tawdry, and even Richard Gere (who I hate in everything) is good in it. It will likely win, and for the first time in a long long time I would agree. I completely agree. I remember the first time I saw American Beauty, I said that it should win the Oscar, and a lot of people telling me that they're sick to death of dark, meaningful movies winning. Maybe the Academy should follow the Golden Globes, and have separate catagories for Drama and Comedy/Musical. Until then, Chicago was rightfully nominated, and I hope it wins. -- The Best Doc category once again confounds virtually everybody, because it doesn't have Shadows of Motown or The Kid Stays In The Picture or Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary. Where does one see documentaries, anyway? I'd love to see Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary. FYI, I am trying to write my first screenplay, so anytime anyone sees anything remotely related to the July 1944 plot to kill Hitler, please pm me!!
Your best bet is to seek out and attend film festivals. All of the best doc nominees started out in festivals. That, or move to New York -- Blind Spot is playing this week at Lincoln Plaza. There are several documentaries and a mountain books written about the assassination attempt on Hitler (I assume you mean the one where they got a bomb into a room where he was meeting, but a large table leg saved him). A Google search has lots of hits.
Thanks - I've read a lot of them, but can always use more background information. And yes, that is the "right" plot.
One day, Ridley Scott is going to be dead, and you are going to talk about how great he was. Gladiator was great. Better than anything that year. Easily.
He'll be remembered for Alien and Blade Runner more than Gladiator. What really bugged me about Gladiator is the same thing that bugs me about Gangs of NY -- Scott and Scorcese made self-important 3-hour movies that they wanted to be the next Titanic. They aspired to be... James Cameron! For someone of Scorcese's caliber to want to be the next James Cameron is just insane.
I saw ads on TV saying it was going to be re-released in mid-January, but it never made it back to Denver. I doubt it. It's actually fairly surprising the Writer's Guild allowed both names to appear in the credits in the first place. I'm thinking they didn't know.
I think that is slowly changing, as the first two weeks in August have been huge in recent years (Signs, XXX, Rush Hour 2). It's the same effect that's taking place in May, as traditionally Memorial Day has been the kick-off weekend for blockbusters movies, but in recent years studios have been stretching that to early May, as the biggest films in recent years (Spiderman, Mummy Returns, Gladiator, etc.) have all opened the first weekend of that month. You can chalk that up to the massive overbuilding of theatres in the last 5 years, and the additional space they provide. Stay tuned for more crappy popcorn flicks this year