Posts Tagged ‘nomination’

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BEST PICTURE – GIVE OR TAKE A FEW

by Tom on June 15, 2011 at 9:02 am
Posted In: Bonus Materials
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Academy Award, Oscar, Best Picture, nomination

On Tuesday, the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to change the nomination process for the Best Picture category. For years, the field was limited to 5 nominees but was expanded to 10 a few years ago. For the 2012 Oscars, there will be anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees and we won't know how many films have been nominated until they are announced in January of next year.

AMPAS claims that Academy members have historically shown passion for more than five movies during the nomination process, but on average, not more than 7 or 8. The no longer feel an obligation to "round up" the number of nominees to 10.

Films that receive at least 5% first place votes among Academy members are eligible for Best Picture nomination. That's fine, I guess. But does anyone else see this as giving the studios a greater opportunity to jockey for a nomination? Like, if studios get a sense that their critical darling (but financial dud) is hovering around 4%, won't they push harder for swing votes? I see this as opening the door for more marketing and more campaigning that gets in the way of honestly recognizing films based on merit.

I guess I'm skeptical of it because it feels so shapeless. Almost as if the Academy is indifferent to the number of films that are nominated. "5 films, 6 films, 9 films... Hey! Whatever you want!"

Or worse, it feels like a contrived maneuver that will cause a lot of second guessing among Oscar-watchers. Which will result in more print articles trying to make predictions and more ink spilled covering potential confusion and controversy.

What is your take on this rule change? Leave your comments below!

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SORE LOSER

by Tom on January 23, 2009 at 7:03 am
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Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, Oscar, nomination, Best Supporting Actor, Tropic Thunder

I kind of cheated a little bit on the backgrounds for today's comic. They're screen captures from Tony's garage in Iron Man. I had a hard time grabbing them. I would scan the frames for the shots I needed, but then go back and start watching scenes from the movie. Total time suck!

As you may or may not know, the 2009 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday and Robert Downey Jr. being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Tropic Thunder stuck out the most to me across a field of otherwise safe choices.

Obviously RDJ won't win, citing the Academy's aversion to comedic performances. If anything, it's a tip of the hat to the comeback year Downey Jr. has had and they certainly couldn't nominate him for Iron Man for fear of losing complete credibility.

I was a little surprised that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button racked up 13 nominations and even more surprised that it earned nominations in the Big 5 - Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Seriously - I thought interest had wained on this thing. Everyone I've talked to says it's an exhaustive slog to get through and nothing much happens.

But, statistically, it's the front-runner. So I suppose I will have to check it out.

I guess I was also surprised that The Wrestler was no nominated for Best Picture. Almost everyone I talk to seems to love that movie. Meanwhile, The Reader made the cut despite critics taking it to task for being a bit of a mess (aside from Kate Winslet's performance, of course).

Any while we're talking about the Best Picture nominations, I'm personally disappointed that Wall-E couldn't bust out of the Best Animated Feature Film ghetto and lock down a Best Picture nomination. One of the most critically adored and respected film's in Pixar's history and it's been relegated second-class citizenship. If the Academy had not created the Best Animated Feature Film category, Wall-E would have been a contender for sure. If the Academy saw fit to nominate Beauty and The Beast for Best Picture nearly 20 years ago, surely Wall-E could compete.

Interesting that there was no gold watch nomination for Clint Eastwood and his contributions to Gran Torino. Going into nominations, I thought buzz was building on that one. I guess not.

Of course, everyone is talking about Heath Ledger being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his revolutionary turn as The Joker in The Dark Knight. But I don't think he'll win. The Dark Knight was conspicuously shut out of any other major category. The highest grossing film of the year - one of the highest grossing since Titanic and no recognition with a Best Picture or Best Director nomination? Sure it cleaned up with 7 nominations in the technical categories, but c'mon!

Ultimately, I think Nathaniel R. from The Film Experience hit the nail on the head with his Oscar nominations talking points posted yesterday. I found this by way of Jeffery Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere:

Oscar Preferences

The Oscar's will be broadcast February 22 on ABC. For your reference, here is a list of the most prominent 2009 Oscar nominations:

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins--The Visitor
Frank Langella--Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn--Milk
Brad Pitt--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke--The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin--Milk
Robert Downey Jr.--Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman--Doubt
Heath Ledger--The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon--Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway--Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie--Changeling
Melissa Leo--Frozen River
Meryl Streep--Doubt
Kate Winslet--The Reader

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams--Doubt
Penelope Cruz--Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis--Doubt
Taraji Henson--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei--The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard--Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant--Milk
Stephen Daldry--The Reader
Danny Boyle--Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley--Doubt
Peter Morgan--Frost/Nixon
David Hare--The Reader
Simon Beaufoy--Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

So, what's your take? Is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button worthy of 13 nominations? Who films or performances do you think were ignored? What are your predictions for who will take home the little golden man?

Leave your comments below!

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IT’S AN HONOR TO BE NOMINATED…

by Tom on July 7, 2004 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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Hey, gang! To pile good news onto MORE good news, it looks like Theater Hopper has been nominated for "Outstanding Environment" by the good people sponsoring the buzzAwards. According to them "[Theater Hopper was] deemed to have clean and organized webpages, easily navigated archives, involved and engaging authors, punctuality, and clever and intriguing bonus items."

Can't argue with them there. Who WOULDN'T be involved or engaged with an audience as awesome as this one?

Voting has been turned over to those that know best - the readers! So if you feel like supporting Theater Hopper, click here to enter the voting booth.

Votes are tabulated by what looks like a special forum. So in order to cast your ballot, you'll probably need to register first.

Thanks again to everyone who supports Theater Hopper! I can't do this without you!

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NEWS AT 11

by Tom on November 20, 2002 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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Well, I'm back. I promised more news, and I've got more news. Ironically, this won't be a mega-post like I originally envisioned.

I just wanted to make it public that Theater Hopper has been nominated for a couple of awards by the good folks sponsoring the Webcomic Choice Awards. We're nominated in the categories of Best Hand-Drawn Comic and Best Webdesign.

Of course I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm just happy for the recognition, so many thanks to those who filled in my name on the nomination ballot.

Voting for the general public won't begin until all the nominees have been contacted and they verify the honor. I'm imagining it'll be near the end of the month before things get into full-swing.

I'm not going to vote-whore, but I intend on promoting the WCA during the voting period. Once things get rolling, please think of us when casting your ballot. It would make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Things are really shaping up for the big five-oh milestone on Friday. Geeze. 50 comics. I can't believe it. I just started this up to see if I could do it. And now it looks like I've got an average of a couple hundred readers telling me to keep it up. You guys are the best. Seriously. If it weren't for you, I'd quit. There's no reason to throw all this creative effort into a void. I'm glad there is someone on the other side to provide a soft pillow for it to land on.

To celebrate this chapter of Theater Hopper history, I've made some plans for next week. There are going to be a few changes around the site. I'm going to be deleting a few things, adding some more cool things to replace them and... well... something big is planned for next week, so you gotta be sure to come back and check it out.

Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to Butah over at Hot Buttered Funk. He was kind enough to add me to his ever-growing cam-pic army. You can find me on page 8. Do some scrolling. You'll find me at the bottom.

Butah was also cool enough to hook Theater Hopper up with a permanent link on his links page. I'm returning the favor by slapping this big ass banner here.

Hot Buttered Funk

I strongly suggest you visit the site and sign up for the forums. They've got a great crew of regulars over there and some of the most intelligent and inventive topics I've seen on the Internet in a long time.

Hmm... I guess this post ended up being longer than I thought. Nuthin' wrong with that!

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