Academy Awards

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Might as well get it started. I’ve only seen a couple of the films getting all the nods this year. I don’t enjoy the awards show if I haven’t seen any of the films.</p>

<p>If I could only see 4 nominated films before the Oscars, which ones should I see?</p>

<p>I loved Olivia Spencer in the The Help for Best Supporting Actress. </p>

<p>I haven’t seen Meryl Streep’s film, but I’m sure she’s worthy yet again for Best Actress but won’t win.</p>

<p>Who is the best choice for best Actor and Supporting Actor? Director? Film?</p>

<p>Billy Crystal is hosting this year. I have enjoyed his past shows, but who is your all time favorite host? I think mine was either Johnny Carson or David Niven (I know, dating myself).</p>

<p>Can you name your favorite or least favorite acceptance speech? And you can’t say Sally Fields’ “you really like me!” speech, that’s too easy!</p>

2

<p>Most favorite acceptances:</p>

<p>Bruce Springsteen, “This is the first song I ever wrote for a motion picture, I guess it’s all downhill from here.”</p>

<p>Michael Moore, “…we live in fictitious times…”</p>

3

<p>I loved The Artist, The Descendants and The Help. Midnight in Paris is worth seeing and enjoyable, too, but not quite in the same category as these three, imo.</p>

<p>Jean Dujardin for Best Actor
Viola Davis for Best Actress</p>

<p>I like Billy Crystal, but liked his younger self better. ( I’m sure people say the same thing about me. :slight_smile: )</p>

4

<p>I don’t think I’m going to watch much beyond the intro. Martha Marcy May Marlene wasn’t nominated – which was terrific and Elizabeth Olson was amazing. The Descendants wasn’t that good; Midnight in Paris was absolutely awful. Pandering, stupid, cliched, overwrought.</p>

<p>But I would be surprised if anyone on CC agrees with me…</p>

5

<p>I saw The Descendants and The Iron Lady. I was disappointed in both. The Descendants was okay, but Clooney seemed like he was forcing his words. They had no feeling. </p>

<p>I really disliked the story about The Iron Lady. It was all about an elderly woman loosing her husband. Now, come on. Is that how we think of Thatcher? It would have been a much better story if the focus wasn’t on her life after being a prime minister.</p>

<p>I’m sorry I didn’t see The Artist. I bet that would be much better. And darn, my 95 year old mom went to see The Iron Lady instead. She remembers seeing a few silent movies and then those talkies, but she’s visiting my brother now.</p>

6

<p>I’ve only seen Tree of Life (flawed, shall we say? but great cinematography), Moneyball (OK, but not terrific) and Bridesmaids (I would love it if this won an award!). Not the usual movies, and this year’s collection seems a bit boring.</p>

7

<p>I really enjoyed Moneyball.
Our whole family went to see Hugo at thanksgiving & it was much better than I expected.</p>

8

<p>Favorite acceptance speeches: I loved the speech Jamie Foxx gave about his late grandmother when he won for “Ray.”</p>

<p>Going way, way back: Cary Grant wiping tears away when he received a special honorary award.</p>

<p>Most moving Oscar moments ever: when Chaplin appeared to receive his honorary award.</p>

<p>When Miep Gies came to the stage with the producer of “Anne Frank Remembered.”</p>

9

<p>frazzled, I remember all but the Cary Grant speech you mentioned. Great ones!</p>

<p>I remember when Vanessa Redgrave won for something and she got all political about Israel and people began hissing and booing.</p>

<p>I remember when there was a streaker during Elizabeth Taylor’s presentation or something and David Niven came in with a line so perfect, everyone wondered if the whole thing had been staged.</p>

<p>Woody Allen never shows up to accept his awards…</p>

10

<p>I’d love to think the David Niven line was spontaneous. He was known as a brilliant wit. But you’re right, the line was SO perfect, it might well have been staged. Nothing’s real in Hollywood, I guess. [Favorite</a> Oscar® moment - The Streaker - YouTube](<a href=“Favorite Oscar® moment - The Streaker - YouTube”>Favorite Oscar® moment - The Streaker - YouTube)</p>

11

<p>Classof2015, I agree with you that Midnight in Paris wasn’t that wonderful; it disappointed me.</p>

<p>The only others that I’ve seen are The Artist, to which I’d give an A- (there were some great things about it), and Hugo, to which I’d give a grade of B+.</p>

12

<p>Some Oscar stream of consciousness: For sheer entertainment value, I’d vote for Moneyball. I thought Midnight in Paris was a delightful bit of froth. (Even my mid-twenties video game, hard rock and football loving son enjoyed it, but then he fell for Amelie too–must be something about romance and France.) The Descendants was overrated, and while some of the performances in The Help were very fine (Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain especially), I thought the film as a whole was cartoonish and trite (just like the book–you mean black maids in the South were treated poorly–who woulda guessed?). Enjoyed War Horse for its visuals, but it never rose above its children’s book origins. Haven’t seen The Artist yet, but apparently it’s the favorite to take the big prize. Also want to catch Tree of Life and Hugo, but will pass on Extremely Loud etc., which was a mysterious choice for Best Picture, considering its almost uniformly poor reviews. I have no favorites for actors and actresses, there were many excellent performances this year, both nominated and not nominated. I couldn’t bear to See The Iron Lady. I love Meryl Streep, but I can’t think of anything more boring than a bio of Margaret Thatcher, and it was also not well reviewed. In the end, I watch the Academy Awards primarily to critique the gowns and hairstyles. (Don’t we all?)</p>

13

<p>I’ve seen The Artist, The Help, Moneyball, Iron Lady, The Descendants. Of those, only The Artist and The Help would rate a Best Picture in my book, with slight edge to The Help.</p>

<p>Best Actor: if Clooney and Pitt’s performances are the best of the year, it was not that great of a year. Jean Dujardin was very good.</p>

<p>Best Actress: Loved Viola Davis. Thought Meryl Streep was Very Good (but did not like picture) and would probably win. Until I saw My Week With Marilyn. Michelle Williams
(whom I normally do not care for) was absolutely, hands down best of the year.</p>

<p>Supporting Actor: Toss up for me between Kenneth Branaugh (Week with Marilyn) and
Christopher Plummer (Beginners). Jonah Hill got my attention, only because it’s such departure from his normal junk.</p>

<p>Supporting Actress: Toss up again between Octavia (The Help) and Bejo (The Artist). This was a very strong category…</p>

14

<p>I think this year was extremely disappointing in film. I didn’t really find any movie that was extremely phenomenal. I fell in love with The Social Network and The King’s Speech last year and thought they were extremely well done. 2012 isn’t looking very promising in terms of movies either…</p>

<p>Best Picture: The Artist is going to win it. Hollywood loves going back into its past. If any other movie picks up the award I will be extremely surprised. I saw The Artist, Moneyball, and Midnight in Paris. No interest in the 9/11 movie (phenomenal book but the critics slammed it and for good reasons). So much anger towards The Help which I think deserves all the acting nominations but nothing else. I found Tree of Life a weird throw in. </p>

<p>Best Actor: I am hoping for Jean Dujardin. He is extremely lovable and picked up the SAG award last weekend which was surprising. The body that votes for that award and the Oscars are extremely overlapped too. Gary Oldman should’ve been nominated a long time ago but glad to see his first Oscar nom.</p>

<p>Best Actress: I will first say that I am so surprised that Tilda Swinton was nominated for ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin.’ That movie gave me nightmares and her acting was phenomenal. Viola Davis will pick up the award though.</p>

<p>Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer has been getting all the pre-Oscar buzz. I haven’t seen Beginners yet. I don’t think Jonah Hill should’ve been nominated. I don’t think his acting was good it was just different that what was expected. </p>

<p>Supporting Actress: I’d love to see Bernice Bejo pick up the award (mainly for the scene with the coat rack) but Octavia Spencer will take it. I felt like Melissa McCarthy’s nomination was not needed. </p>

<p>Original Song: I want to see Man or a Muppet? on stage so badly. Please let Jason Segel do it for the pure entertainment value of things. </p>

<p>For screenplays I want to see Aaron Sorkin again because he knows how to speak and his writing is phenomenal but I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing for Moneyball. It wasn’t as witty and moving as other scripts. Woody Allen will probably take original but would to see Bridesmaids win just to see Kristen Wiig’s face. </p>

<p>/current Oscar feelings</p>

<p>Random favorite moments from the past (near and far):</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Hugh Jackman’s opening monologue and song. It was one of the best things to ever been on TV. [Hugh</a> Jackman’s opening number at the Oscars® - YouTube](<a href=“Hugh Jackman's Opening Number: 81st Oscars (2009) - YouTube”>Hugh Jackman's Opening Number: 81st Oscars (2009) - YouTube)</p></li>
<li><p>Sean Penn’s speech for Milk. He just threw a lot of stuff out there it was wonderful. Also that year was Heath Ledger’s family and their loving speech, Kate Winslet finally winning.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-Kathryn Bigelow winning for Best Director and being the first female to do so. Way too long for that to happen but so glad it did with The Hurt Locker. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Jeff Bridges is a wonderful man and his acceptance speech where he talked about his family is beautiful. He is so genuine and deserved it so much.</p></li>
<li><p>Avatar not winning any major categories</p></li>
<li><p>Matt Damon and Ben Affleck winning for Screenplay and being so young and so excited and so surprised. When the winners are young and not glazed over by the nuance of the Academy the excitement really shows.</p></li>
<li><p>Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola took the stage to present the award to their BFF Director buddy Martin Scorsese. When they walked out you knew he won for The Departed.</p></li>
<li><p>Robin Williams winning for Good Will Hunting. Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby. Beautiful speeches by such well known actors.</p></li>
<li><p>Lastly Glen Hansard and Marketa Iraglove winning for ‘Once’ and their song ‘Falling Slowly.’ </p></li>
</ul>

<p>/communications major feelings</p>

15

<p>I still think Ellen Degeneres was an excellent hostess, funny, engaging, and really felt she was happy to be there. Anyone remember the group (pilobolus) that did the acrobatic type stuff during that show? I remember being amazed. Look it up on You Tube, if you don’t recall it. You can see some of her best bits there too. I remember almost falling out of my chair when she vacuumed, and groused about it (something like) “if I’d known THIS was part of the job…” </p>

<p>I wept when Charlie Chaplin won his special award.</p>

<p>LOVED when the couple won for the song Falling Slowly (from the film Once).</p>

<p>It’s the one night a year I eat pizza and watch TV. I do record it and let an hour go by before watching. Can’t sit through the commercials.</p>

16

<p>It’s worth watching for the red carpet alone. One of my employees calls it “the gay Super Bowl.”</p>

17

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<p>Loved that too, as well as Cuba Gooding’s speech.</p>

18

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<p>You thought they were going to make a film about her life in government? Ugh, that would have been very boring. It was not supposed to be about her life as PM but her life afterwards - which by the way is interesting - the fact nearly everyone in Britain hates her (still, after decades) and how she has coped with it is quite a story.</p>

19

<p>I also liked when Ellen Degeneress hosted the Oscars – but my favorite was when she hosted the Emmys, which had been cancelled twice in the wake of 9/11. When the show finally aired, she brought down the house with her line “What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?” It set a great tone for the show.</p>

20

<p>I think the dog in “The Artist” deserves an award! I enjoyed The Artist more than I expected to. Loved the coat rack scene. Saw Midnight in Paris on a movie channel not long ago. I would not put it on the same class as the other nominees.</p>