Pre-Nom Oscar Conversation

Email Conversation held December 31, 2009 through January 2, 2010

Rich:
So what did you think of ‘Up in the Air?’

Saw ‘Avatar’ for the 2nd time today and confirmed that yes, its still stupid. But in all seriousness, I do believe the actress who was mo-capped for the alien girl deserves a best actress nom. Other than that, the film can go fuck itself.

Carey Mulligan, Best Actress.
Jeff Bridges, Best Actor.
Mo'Nique and bad guy from ‘Basterds,’ Supporting.
Bigelow, Director.
‘Up in the Air,’ Best Picture.

What will be your first film watched tomorrow?

Carrie:
I'm watching ‘Cinemania’ tomorrow. It's a documentary about weirdos who have no life and watch like three movies a day every day. So...it will be a harrowing look into my future.

Mo-capped girl was pretty solid. Goofy Science Nerd Sidekick was adorable. Some cool looking aliens...and things I liked about ‘Avatar’ end there. Well, okay, I guess I liked the plot when it was ‘Fern Gully.’ Man did I ever love ‘Fern Gully.’

I was really surprised at how funny ‘Up in the Air’ was. My biggest criticism: I wish they'd mixed the funny parts and the sad parts a little more. When Bingham was being funny, it should have been a little more steeped in sadness--he seems too comfortable and cool in some of the earlier scenes. I thought the use of voice-over in a few parts was a little rough but I'm generally quick to criticize voice-over outside of noir movies.

But overall I really loved it (especially the ending. Boy oh boy I was nuts about that ending). I doubt it will win best picture but it's definitely a shoe-in for a nomination and I certainly think it stands a chance to win something for adapted screenplay.

I'm so behind in watching all the Oscar movies, I barely feel like I can guess at any of the nominations (I almost don't even want to watch this year, though...all of the ‘Avatar’ nominations/possible wins...ugh). Partially it seems like the movies I wanted to watch this year weren't really things the Academy seems to care about right now. I'm still hung up on ‘Moon.’ And the remaining "prestige-ish" movies I want to see are basically... ‘A Single Man’ and ‘Bright Star.’

I guess I can always root for ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ re-ignite my giant Eli Roth crush that had finally gone away, and feel content that the Academy agrees with me.

Rich:
You have a thing for comedic sidekicks, don't you?

Narration in UITA = good. It was witty, let us in on his thinking and gave us all those cool travel tips. Since he was a very solitary figure, didn't it make sense that he'd be constantly talking to himself?

‘Avatar’ narration = bad. Faux 'Heart of Darkness' bullshit that tried to cut corners in showing us what a complicated, conflicted character Jake was. Didn't work.

And there you have perhaps ‘Avatar's’ biggest problem: the bland hero I neither cared about nor believed in. It was ‘Titanic’ without Leo. Jake was never worthy of the alien girl's affections nor the film's need for a hero. I think we both loved the alien girl but there was no arc there; she was a strong character from frame one.

I liked Weaver but by now she's done these types 100 times - literally; Ripley crossed with ‘Gorillas in the Mist.’

I also liked Rodriguez but her shifting alliance from bad to good was as sudden and unexplained as Jake's. None of these characters’ actions were organic but simply things the screenplay made them do because it was convenient to the unoriginal story.

For Best Picture, what other film besides these two really has a chance? 'An Education's' buzz seems to have completely evaporated to the point where I now fear for Mulligan's actress award (Bullock may swoop in and snipe Best Actress).

‘Avatar’ CAN'T win Best Picture because actors make up the largest % of academy voters and they will not vote for something that so excluded them.

I need to go out today and find EW's Oscar issue and see what they have to say. Clooney and Vera are on the cover:)

Carrie:
I guess I have a tendency to prefer a sort of silent solidarity...I think it's significantly more difficult to write and for an actor to convey a character without words, but when it's pulled off successfully, it's very effective (I'm thinking of the first 15 minutes of ‘There Will Be Blood’ in particular here).

That said, you're right: Bingham's not some crazy Plainview character--he does seem to want social interaction, so he would logically just sort of talk to himself (albeit in his head).

‘Precious’ and ‘Hurt Locker’ will both be nominated for Best Picture and I'd say ‘Hurt Locker’ definitely has a fighting chance. I highly doubt it would actually win, but I think ‘Inglourious Basterds’ has a chance of at least being nominated.

Frankly I think the biggest thing ‘Up in the Air’ has going against it is that it IS sort of a comedy.

I remembered another thing I took issue with: the sort of documentary-style talking heads "catching up" on the people who had been fired at the end of the movie. They made sense earlier, but I wasn't sure whether they were supposed to actually be talking to someone or if that was just how Bingham imagined them to be or what.

Comic sidekicks...sure. I'd just generally say losers or nerds. When my friends and I were very, very young and watching ‘Star Wars’ for the first time, while they were all busy talking about their Han Solo crushes, I was into Luke Skywalker. Story of my life.

Rich:
Do you mind if I post this exchange on my blog (with your name hidden)? It would save me from having to write an article.
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Best Picture:
‘Precious’ will get a nomination but it wasn't that good a film to begin with and the backlash has more than caught up with it. It will win for Mo'Nique and nothing else and that alone is a gift.

‘Hurt Locker’ will certainly be nominated and I'd be overjoyed if it won but it's dismal box office sort of preordains it "only" for a history-making Best Director win.

We're forgetting that Pixar's ‘Up’ will probably cross over from animated to Best Picture. While I found the film delightful on first viewing, I have come to loathe the baffling support that has since risen. This is not Pixar's best by a long shot and it's not even best animated film of the year (I'm looking at you, ‘Coraline’) so why all the love for this?

Do we agree that ‘An Education’ and ‘Inglourious Basterds’ will get Best Picture noms? If they are both original screenplays, I think they will be the front-runners for that category, as well.

‘Avatar’ and ‘Up in the Air’ would be Best Pic noms #6 and #7, so what would complete this category? In a perfect world, ‘District 9.’ ‘A Serious Man’ or ‘A Single Man’ or both? ‘The Lovely Bones?’

‘The Blind Side,’ that's what I'm forgetting here! For better or worse, that film is officially a phenom and will without a doubt get Best Pic and Best Actress noms. And so it is written and so it shall be...

I think ‘Invictus,’ ‘Nine’ and ‘The Road’ are all non-starters and DOA at this point.
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Going back to Zoe Saldana deserving a Best Actress nomination for her motion-capture performance as Neytiri in ‘Avatar’ brings up interesting questions about that film's eligibility in other categories. Do you think it's exempt from Cinematography and Art Direction? On one hand, someone created an entire friggin' planet pretty successfully but on the other, it was created inside a computer. Does that still count? This is starting to get existential…

Carrie:
‘An Education’ is actually an adaptation of a novel. It stands a fair chance of winning if ‘Up in the Air’ doesn't, I'd say.

I think ‘Up’ was pretty phenomenal and while I agree that it's not Pixar's best work (for me, that's ‘Ratatouille’ for sure), as a long-time fan of animation I'm more than happy to see it taken seriously (as opposed to "kids' movies").

I don't think ‘The Lovely Bones’ stands a chance for anything outside of art direction/costuming/SFX awards. I haven't seen it but hasn't it gotten almost universally nonplussed reviews?

I think either ‘Invinctus’ or ‘Nine’ could get a nomination but would not even stand a chance. ‘A Serious Man’ is a definite possibility. Apparently there's been a lot of buzz around ‘(500) Days of Summer's’ chances (which--and I say this as a fan of the movie--I think are totally undeserved).

Still haven't seen ‘The Blind Side’ but you are very right about it.

Isn't this Zoe Saldana question (and its variants) the same one the Academy had to face regarding Andy Serkis as Gollum a few years ago? I think this time around they'll bite the bullet and admit that they have to start recognizing these things.

Feel free to use this stuff. You don't have to hide my name, that's up to you (you could link to my blog/twitter/etc).

Rich:
True Story: SAG is so concerned about the blurring of the use of real actors vs. CGI, they have actually "established a committee to look in to this," a member tells me. "Have you now or ever been a computer graphic?" Ha.

I think the CGI question becomes more relevant every year because the technology just keeps advancing. Yes, it was first brought up with Gollum but the sensors at the time couldn't capture facial features and expressions well so almost everything above the shoulders in his performance was largely computer animated. Not so with Zoe, I'm told. Apparently almost everything about the alien from head to toe is her.

What are the chances this will eventually become a new category? Best fake performance by a real person? And considering the voice work of James Gandolfini in ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and almost the entire cast of ‘Fantastic Fox,’ when will THAT area get its due?

Rich:
You know, the more I wonder about ‘Avatar's’ chances in the technical categories, the bigger headache I get. Is it eligible for Best Makeup? Can it win any F/X awards when the whole thing is basically one big one? What are the chances this will win the two sound awards and nothing else? I was honestly afraid this had a shot at Best Pic but after seeing it twice and talking to you, that anxiety attack has long passed. In fact, the more I consider Avatar, the more I realize how truly great ‘District 9’ was. D9 is art, ‘Avatar’ is a Happy Meal prize.

Can't you see ‘Basterds’ winning Best Supporting Actor AND Original Screenplay?

Am I wrong in still clinging to the hopes that if ‘District 9’ doesn't get the original screenplay win, it’s you-are-there grimy brilliance can beat the elegant ‘Bright Star’ in Art Direction and Cinematography?

Yes, I too keep seeing ‘500 Days…’ bandied about but aside from noms for Best Picture and Best Screenplay that it can't possibly win, what else could it squeeze from this ceremony?

You know, reading through this whole conversation again, it seems to me to be a pretty weak year overall. In my opinion, ‘Up in the Air’ was utterly perfect, ‘Hurt Locker’ was very good, ‘Basterds’ was a helluva lot of fun, ‘District 9’ still lingers favorably in memory and... that's about it. I think I'd still rather watch ‘Antichrist’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ again before any of those.

This was a really good pre-nomination talk and I'm very happy I had this with you before I read the EW Oscar issue.

When are the nominations announced? Anything further you'd like to add?

Carrie:
You seem to know way more about the whole struggle with the "to what extent can we consider mo-cap stuff acting vs. animation" than I do. As much as I'd like to discuss it with you, you are way more informed than I am, so I'm afraid it would be pretty fruitless for you.

Man, I didn't even think about how disregarded voice actors are (read: suddenly I am a failure as an animation nerd). I didn't see ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ but I certainly though Ed Asner did an incredible job in ‘Up’ (personally I was not crazy in general about ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ and thought the voice acting in particular stuck out like a sore thumb).

Your ‘District 9’/’Avatar’ comparison is solid gold. I would also say it's fine, expensive dark chocolate vs. cheap, extra-sugary milk chocolate. Or maybe a really, really pretty picture of chocolate.

I definitely think ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is a safe pick for Supporting Actor. I'm less certain about Screenplay, but I am apparently the only person in the world who thinks the weakest parts of Taratino's films tend to be the dialogue.

I'm not so sure ‘Bright Star’ will win much of anything. I don't know, I haven't seen it (outside of screencaps of Paul Schneider's magnificent beard). It DOES seem to follow the hoopskirt rule, but then so does ‘The Young Victoria,’ which was released later and is therefore "fresher in the voters' minds" (that's a thing, right?).

I still haven't seen ‘Antichrist’ or ‘Paranormal Activity,’ but I agree with you as far as potential Oscar nominees go. As said, I still really want to see ‘A Single Man’ and (especially) ‘Bright Star’ (and Paul Schneider's magnificent beard), I loved ‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ and really liked ‘District 9.’ And I think basically every contender this year for Animated Feature was strong. But I'm more enthusiastic about rewatching ‘In the Loop’ and ‘Moo’n than getting caught up on all these Oscar nominees.

Unless you want to trade ‘New Moon’ jokes I don't have anything to add at the moment. Thanks for a great discussion!

Rich:
Yes, this was awesome. Let's talk again after the nominations come out so we can bitch about how none of the guys from ‘In The Loop’ or ‘A Single Man’ received supporting actor noms.

My very last thoughts are on Best Song. If they were originals, Regina Spektor's two from 500 Days…’ will be in. And it would be the most delicious revenge in the world if that Low Shoulder song from ‘Jennifer's Body’ actually won because I seem to be the only person in the galaxy who liked that film/soundtrack.

Carrie:
Wait I forgot that category existed in which case my dedication to Thom Yorke tells me I should go around telling people the song he wrote for ‘New Moon’ deserves to win. And only be half joking.

I don't remember either of the Regina Spektor songs but I'm guessing Best Song will go...that song from the credits of ‘Avatar,’ something from the ‘Princess and the Frog,’ something from ‘Crazy Heart,’ and that song from the trailer for ‘Nine.’ Uhhh...I have no idea on a fifth song. A Regina Spektor song if either of those were new, I guess. I'm bad at predicting the winner of this category, but the nominees are usually cinch.

Rich:
That ‘Avatar’ song was like the final dagger to the chest. The next time Commander Cameron is rattling on about his craft and changing the film industry, someone should ask him about that. It’s so out of place, I think ‘New Moon’ would get a slot before that one.

Yes to ‘C. Heart.’

Yes to probable ‘Frog’ songs.

‘Nine’ turned out so badly, I dunno. I'm really going out of my way to block it from my mind.

There was actually one new ‘Fame’ song that didn't suck.

Carrie:
Quality is barely a concern in that category. "Best song out of the movies we've declared Oscar worthy even though the song only played in the credits and was possibly written by Enya."

Rich:
Nice:) Perfect place to end this for now.

/end transcript

Carrie's blog, Cinemaniacal, here.