80th Academy Awards - Nominations LIVE Telecast: Sunday, February 24, 2008 - ABC-TV
Ah The Oscars, the Superbowl of Film and Fashion.
Outside the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center where the Oscar show takes place the red carpet is all about style, inside it's all about film. Well, film, and boring unfunny monologues, singing numbers, and a lot of self-congratulations between the lucky chosen few who make their living making, but mostly starring in, movies.
After 100 days of a grueling Writer's Guild strike Hollywood was ready for something to celebrate. Thankfully the strike ended and the big show could go on. Too bad it only gave the writers 7 days to produce work they usually get 7 months to pen. Since no one could tell the difference one wonders what they are doing with all that prep time. At least we didn't get hours of movie montages instead of the usual scripted forced banter, in its place we got the usual array of minutes of montages of past award winners before each big acting award was presented.
Watching the pre-show on ABC-TV the only constant in each shot featuring an announcer was the same shot of the El Capitan theater marquee in the background. Anyone wonder why? Disney, the parent company of ABC-TV owns the El Capitan. Just think of the free ad time they got for their theater Ah, the business of Hollywood.
Fashion statements on the red carpet this year were the continuing disappearance of necklaces, one-shoulder gowns, and the appearance of red dresses on just about every other woman at the Oscars. Red dresses for the red carpet. Only a very few women wore a necklace, and that's probably because Nicole Kidman wore one necklace that was enough for everyone, it looked as if she strung a chain of crystals from a chandelier around her neck, like Christmas lights. This means, of course, that next year all the women will be wearing necklaces. For men the bow tie with their tux made a resurgence. Even Michael Moore turned out nicely in all black with a dark gray tie.
The musical numbers on the Oscar broadcast were thankfully spare, with the exception of "That's How You Know" from ENCHANTED, which featured a full on cast of dancers backing up vocalist and actress Kristen Chenowith. Winning the Orignal Song, composers and songwriters Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova performed their "Falling Slowly" on piano and guitar just as they performed it in their film ONCE.
The Oscar Director, Gil Cates, only allowed Hansard to give his thanks and then cued the orchestra to begin playing that awful get-off-the-stage music to hustle the duo out. In a wonderful moment host Jon Stewart went bakstage during the commerical break that followed and insisted on giving Irglova her moment in the Oscar sun to enjoy and give thanks for her big moment. This action was heartlfelt and made one feel warm all over. Stewart will be eternaly thanked for his gracious and thoughful actions.
This was a great year for indepent films and European actors; independantly produced films scored better on total nominations and won more awards than studio flicks. All four top acting awards went to Europeans, a first in Oscar history if this reviewer's memory serves: Best Actress Frenchwoman Marion Cotillard, Best Actor Englishman Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actor Spanaird Javier Bardem, and Best Supporting Actress Englishwoman, and all-around fashion icon and brilliant interviewee, the fascinating make-up-less Tilda Swinton.
The best part of the evening was watching the adorable charismatic Marion Cotillard (in a gorgeous white fish scale embroidered Jean Paul Gautier gown) winning a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her stunning work as Edith Piaf in LA VIE EN ROSE, when all predictions in MSM had Julie Christie winning a career award for her listless work as a fading Alzheimer's victim in AWAY FROM HER. Of course, if you've been reading this reviewer's column regularly, you'd know Cotillard would have won.
Another well-deserved winner was Diablo Cody for her original screenplay for JUNO. But it's really too bad that Cody can't seem to afford a mirror, especially when she's just about to go out to the most amazing experience in her life, being a nominated writer at the Academy Awards. She wore a flowing leopard-print chiffon number that, from many angles, looked like a moo-moo and that she struggled to keep bunched around her. Big fashion no-no Cody, please run now and buy yourself a full-length mirror!
Cody's acceptance speech was the real moment of the night as she broke out in tears at the end of her acceptance speech when thanking her family for loving her just the way she is. Daniel Day Lewis kneeled at presenter Helen Mirren's feet when he won his Oscar for Best Actor. It's nice to see real people experiencing real moments. Isn't that what we really want to see? People experiencing a peak moment in their lives and enjoying the hell out of it. A vacarious thrill ride for us couch potatoes.
Another year gone by, more lucky winners, and even more unlucky losers. In a year when this reviewer found few Best Picture nominations worthy, and the worthy pictures not even nominated (INTO THE WILD, DIVING BELL), the songs not nominated (Eddie Vedder for his title song from IN THE WILD), it seemed fair that no one picture won all awards either; the honors were failry sprinkled around among many. The Directors have already come to an agreement with AMPTP, so there won't be a strike from that direction. Next up is the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contract discussions. Let's hope the news from Hollywood will be about the movies for the foreseeable future.
---80th Academy Awards Winners and Losers (winners in bold)---
"Atonement" (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production) A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers WINNER!
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers
"No End in Sight" (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko" (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
Taxi to the Dark Side" THINKFilm) An X-Ray PRoduction: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner WINNER! "War/Dance" (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production: Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria WINNER!
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen WINNER!
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) WINNER!
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) WINNER!
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War" (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal)
Julie Christie in "Away from Her" (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) WINNER!
Laura Linney in "The Savages" (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in "Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production)
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster" (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) WINNER!
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird WINNER!
"Surf's Up" (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
"Atonement" (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen WINNER!
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody WINNER!
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins
"American Gangster" (Universal): Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo WINNER!
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit WINNER!
"Across the Universe" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne WINNER! "La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood WINNER!
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier
Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld" A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth WINNER!
"La Corona (The Crown)" A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
"Salim Baba" A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
"Sari's Mother" (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Christopher Rouse WINNER!
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment): Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Dylan Tichenor
Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald WINNER!
"Norbit" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli WINNER!
"The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova WINNER!
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
"So Close" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"I Met the Walrus" A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin
"Madame Tutli-Putli" (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
"Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)" (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)" (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
"Peter & the Wolf" (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman WINNER!
Best live action short film
"At Night" A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)" (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard WINNER!
"Tanghi Argentini" (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
"The Tonto Woman" A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg WINNER!
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis WINNER!
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate): Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin
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Digital Dogs rating: B
Running Time: 3 hours 40 minutes, show ran 20 minutes over scheduled time
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© 2008 by Digital Dogs
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--- Digital Dogs is gather's Los Angeles Movie Correspondent ---
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Comments: 24
Thanks.
Good review, Digi...As for the show itself, now we know why it takes writers 7 months to get an acceptable script...I'm a big Jon Stewart fan, but that was pretty lame.
...that's probably why I fell asleep long before the end of the show. :-(
Thanks for this great update DD and for your views. Now I feel like I was there...or at least awake!
The first time I breezed past this line I thought "boring, unfunny" refered to the singing numbers. I was glad for the winners because I actually liked their low budget film but the nominated songs were uniformly boring and uninspired. I enjoyed Chenowith's singing much more in RV. :)
NO COUNTRY is violent, poorly directed, poorly acted (each character had the same exact expression on their face for the entire length of the film), had a bad and incomplete script (I mean, honestly, would you kill your title character off - the character who you began the film with, narrated it, who's actions you follow the film through, the character who is most threatened, who's actions compel the rest of the story to move forward - well, would you kill him off-screen towards the end of the film and not allow his story to resolve on-screen? Of course not!
The worst part about NO COUNTRY is that the story has been told by these same directors over and over again (money gets stolen, and bad people want to keep it or take it away from other bad people) . Personally, I'd like to see something original win the top Oscar.
I can, though, suggest why the film ATONEMENT didn't win any top awards, it really sucked. I walked out after that awful overly-long self-congratulatory scene of the beach at Dunkirk. Sure it was epic, but I didn't need to be hit over the head with it.
Boy, talk about movies manipulating the viewer. ATONEMENT was Director Joe Wright's second feature film. Before that he did a little British TV and a few commercials, and before that, when he was younger, he worked with his parents who founded Islington's Little Angel Theater, a puppet theater.
Wright also messed up his first feature film, PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Starring Keira Knightly as Lizzie Bennet and an unknown Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy. The casting was fine (even if Macfadyen looked scared and confused for the entire film), but the Director never allowed the audience to experience one moment of rapture between these two lovers. At the end of the film when they go to finally kiss, the camera pulls back and the Director does not allow the audience to experience the most special moment of the story. Those choices are those of the Director and to me, his choices are all wrong.
When I see someone come directly out of little TV experience and walk right into an A-list film as his first Directing job, well, that just spells inside favors, or perhaps sleeping with the right person to get the gig. There are an awful lot of people in Hollywood who got their jobs because they know, slept with, BJ'd, supplied drugs for, etc, the person who was instrumental in getting them their gig.
You can call me jaded and cynical, but it's true!
The Best Song of the year, "Society," was from INTO THE WILD and was sung by Eddie Vedder, Why it didn't get a nomination boggles the mind. Well, until you think and then realize that perhaps the Academy members don't like Director Sean Penn much.
For INTO THE WILD Vedder wrote and performed "Hard Sun" and "Society" and he wrote "Setting Forth", "No Ceiling", "Far Behind", "Rise", "Long Nights", "Tuolumne", "The Wolf", "End of the Road", and "Guaranteed."
Anyone else have a favorite song that didn't get a nomination this year?
INTO THE WILD
LA VIE EN ROSE
DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY
...go put 'em on yr netflix list NOW!
Feel free to check out my Oscar recap and drop a line.
But again, as I always say, that's why B&R offers 54 flavors.
Couldn't Nicole Kidnman's necklace be considered harmful to her baby somehow? I'm no crystal guru, but every crystal does something different AND the mere weight of it alone might have made the entire event exhausting and dangerous for her!
Gripe #1: Michael Moore and the word "nicely" should not occupy the same sentence. EVER!
Jon Stewart is warm and fuzzy? How CUTE! Almost makes me sorry I missed watching this, but then again I would have had a lot of drool induced by a vegetative state had I waited for the gleaming few moments of interest.
Perhaps Cody should spend the $$$ on a stylist for a few months just until she gets the hang of fashion. Might be a good investment! But, then again, when your family loves you as you are, WHO CARES, right?
Honestly, I've forgotten WHY I used to watch the Oscars. Ah, YES, it was back when I still dropped change to visit musty, filthy, teenage-ridden theaters to watch the nominated films so I would have some idea of why any of this happens. I have NO idea why that piece of "happiness" ever lost it's allure. I must just be getting old. And, I'm OK with that.
Gripe #2: Don't even bring up the SAG situation. In an industry when your talent and abilities make you shine AND you earn MILLIONS in return, why do you need a friggin' union? Ohhh, is it because you might have to work a few more hours each day? That's truly rough, I tell ya! Frankly, if they all went on strike indefinitely and movie production halted, it would probably serve them right to be reminded of how human they are and that they are not invincible -- but that's just my humble opinion.
Overall - thanks for sharing ... you just caught me in a weird mood today! :)
Overall for the last 8 years your Republicans seem to have put the whole country in a weird mood the whole time what popping off with insults at any moment making that norm of the country now ... thanks for that!
Most people only know 1-5% of the members of SAG because they are the lucky few SAG members who can actually make a living out of acting. 95% of SAG members do not make their living as actors because they can't find enough work.
It's an incredibly hard gig to break into and be successful at. It's that top 1-5% that are working all the time, that get the audience into the theaters, that have the attention of the papparazzi and MSM. It's that top 1% that you are prolly talking about. And to be fair, it's that same top 1-5% that IMHO are grossly over-paid and over-compensated for doing little besides allowing their image to be used to advertise a film they've worked on.
But to be honest, without unions Hollywood would be a bottomless pit of poor and out-of-work actors, crew members, writers, extras, producers, production managers, production coordinators, composers, art directors, the entire art department (set decorators, props, spfx, etc), editors, assistant & apprentice editors, production designers, make-up artists, hair stylists, wardrobe stylists, assistant directors (1st's, 2nd's, & 3rd's (there are 3 levels of AD's who all do different jobs); the 1st AD if THE wo/man who makes the production move along on the set), cinematographers... not to mention all the industries that support those people or who make a living from those people. Places like movie theaters, the ticket sellers, the maintenance people, the malls those theaters are in (and the people who built those malls), then there's the cleaners, the gardeners, the house cleaners, the banks, apartment rentals, restaurants, massage therapists, doctors, acupuncturists, just about every industry in this town is supported by the people who make the movies you enjoy watching in those theaters with the sticky floors. This is the true trickle-down theory at work.
Without a union to protect them they would have no health care, no pension, no vacation days, no limit on the number of hours one can be worked in a day (before the unions protected them crew members were worked until they dropped, and even with unions I've worked many a 18-20 hour day myself), no job security at all (right now that minimal as the IA contract only calls for 1 week notice to end employment for union members).
Perhaps you don't realize that each film that you see had a full crew of people working on it to make it a reality, and that crew can number over 200 people, not counting the cast & extras. And once the film (or TV show) is made their job is over. Could you support your family with no security at all other than 1 weeks notice that your job will end? Could you make a monthly rental payment if you didn't know where your next job was coming from? Could you buy a house like that? Would you raise a family like that? Would you want a job that gave you no vacation days and no benefits? I doubt it.
When this town went on strike for 100 days recently due to the WGA strike the city of LA lost 2.5 billion dollars in revenue that would have come in had the strike been settled before the walkout. Are workers supposed to have no rights? No benefits? No security? Tell me, on what planet does that really sound fair to anyone?
Unions give security to workers. Especially in Hollywood where literally 90% of the work is done by crew members hired per job and then released when production is over.
Just because the talking heads you see on TV and vicodin addicts on talk radio keep repeating the same lies over and over do NOT make them true. Unions are NOT ruining our country...that statement comes directly from a republican talking points memo and is not true. In fact, unions are under attack all over our country. Right now union membership in ALL unions across the US is at an all-time low thanks to the war on the middle class that has been waged by those same right wing nut vicodin addicts, their cronies, and the talking points memos issued by privileged legacy winners because they happened to be born in the right family.
Everyone, please stop and think before you accept something you hear on TV as truth without actually taking the time to learn the facts for yourself. Hollywood without unions would be a sweat shop for losers with no families. OR, of course, it would only be for those same privileged legacy winners who happened to be born into the right family. Now, come on, does that really sound right to you?
Other than that, the ceremony unfolded as unsurprisingly as one could expect it to.