Oscar Beat - Posters, Awards and Visual Effects Finalists! Sweet!
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 20, 2006
It has been a few days since I last blogged Oscar bliss, but rest assured that there has been plenty of news; all of which I will deliver to you now in my own special way.
We start with something that is more than just speculation, and it actually relates to the Oscar ceremonies (everything else, at this point, is just other people’s awards generating speculation). The 79th Annual Oscar show now has a poster (which can be seen below). This year’s design is a simple one, focusing on that little golden man that everyone is desperately seeking, with some famous quotes in the background that will give any film fan a case of historical euphoria. One word-ers like “Rosebud” and “Stella” and “Frodo!” got the largest font, but others caught my eye because they remind me of childhood favorites - like “E.T. phone home.” The poster is cool, you get that; now onto something more gossip-ish.
This is the time of year when the life of a critic becomes more than just watching movies weeks in advance and painting publications with prose about why a movie should or should not be seen. Studios put UPS and FedEx to the test, mailing out tons of screeners (all of which are still sitting on my coffee table, waiting to be viewed), setting up countless “Press Only” awards screenings and even sending out little tokens of their desire to be considered (like a sweet minature VW Bus from Little Miss Sunshine, something that I did not get…). The studios do all of this in exchange for what? So that critics can hand out awards to someone else’s movie.
This week, critics from around the world have begun to do just that, hand out awards. I would summarize all of them, but the attention span of the American public is short - in fact I’m not sure that anyone has gotten this far - so I will just give you the quick run-down. Chicago Critics just gave nominations, Phoenix Film Critics say United 93 is this year’s best, Las Vegas Critics applaud The Departed, South Eastern Film Critics have some controversy over Dreamgirls but still give out a Best Picture award to The Departed, and London and Toronto critics rang in some nominees. Even Peter Travers named some top films this week… Phew, what a ride. The best news of the day, though, is that this is only the beginning!
Moving along, the Visual Effects award finalists were also announced. Casino Royale, Eragon, Night at the Museum, Pirates 2, Poseidon, Superman Returns and X-Men 3 all remained in the running. My pick has to be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, as it was by far the most epic of all the listed films. The special effects truly made the film what it was (along with the performance of Johnny Depp). None of the other films listed were as stunning visually as Dead Man’s Chest, but they were all ‘good’.
And finally, Patrick Goldstein from the LA Times’ “The Envelope” (a blog about all things awards) mixes political campaigns with the fight for Oscar Consideration as he dishes out some hypothetical slander campaigns for some of the major players. It is worth a read, and can be found here. My personal favorite:
“The Queen” — We see Helen Mirren in scene after scene, frowning, looking aggravated and scowling at Tony Blair. An announcer, with a hint of irritation, says: “Is this really acting? Or just indigestion?”
Until next time…
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