Oscars 2013

[AndyDursin]

Ratings were up. Highest audience since 2007.

John -- Tarantino? Full of himself? NO WAY. lol.

I also liked Lawrence's speech -- short, unaffected. My parents had never seen her before but they could tell she wasn't just another Hollywood clone...unlike Anne Hathaway, with her phony "I'm so emotional and surprised even though I've won every award this year" performance. At least Day-Lewis knew exactly how to play it, he full well knew he was winning and delivered a funny yet meaningful talk. That's what I was expecting from Affleck, but he was high as a kite, and I don't think it was just on life either.

Realize too that Quvenzhane Wallis is only 9, but someone (like her mom) should've told her to stop flexing her muscles every time she appeared on camera.

[Monterey Jack]

I think Waltz winning again was probably the biggest surprise. I mean, isn't he playing the same role he did 2 years ago? And they gave it to him again?? Kind of odd.

I didn't find Dr. King Schultz to be much like Col. Hans Landa...Waltz was much more warm and personable in Django Unchained than he was in Inglourious Basterds. I mean, Tarantino dialogue always has the same rhythm and cadence from film to film, but I didn't find Waltz's two performances to be especially alike. I was totally surprised that he won again, though. I thought De Niro would take it for the "Hey, you were in a movie that didn't suck! Good for you!" pity sweepstakes. Anyways, it was a category filled with fine performances, so I can't really complain. Also great to see the Q take the Original Screenplay award.

What happened to Kristen Stewart's foot? She was definitely limping onto the stage for her presentation and was clearly in some state of distress. Well, at least she had a reason for not smiling for once.

While I liked Brave, I agree that it wasn't a Pixar highlight and was probably the least-interesting of the nominated films. I wish Frankenweenie had taken it just so Tim Burton could have an Oscar.

Shame that the lineup of 007 actors couldn't happen, but Shirley Bassey's performance of Goldfinger was definitely a highlight of the evening, as was Adele's Skyfall (although I found it a bit tacky that only three of the nominated songs were actually performed during the broadcast).

As for Seth MacFarlane...I didn't hate him. While I continue to detest his creations, he was a fairly winning host, and even though there were the expected number of clunker jokes, he kept things moving along nicely, although I continue to grow weary of his fetish for gratuitous big band musical numbers. Yes, you can sing, you don't have to cram songs into everything you do.

Mychael Danna winning Best Score was fine with me...he's a talented composer, and it's nice to see him get his due for one of the better scores of the year. Also nice to see Ang Lee pick up the directing award...his film had the biggest technical hurdles to overcome, and Lee deserves credit for managing to bring an "unadaptable" novel to the big screen with such visual polish and emotional resonance.

Did they honestly add another commercial and cut into George Clooney's introduction to the "In Memorium" segment? That was a regrettable snafu.

[Paul MacLean]

[DavidBanner]

I also appreciated Jennifer Lawrence's comments. My mother wondered aloud why nobody helped her up the steps in that dress until after she took the header. She was quite gracious, including the nod to Emmanuelle Riva for her 86th birthday. But the leaving-out of David O. Russell was a bit of a goof. I know she didn't intend to do that, but that's a guy who will remember that one...

I agree that Tarantino is always full of himself, and his script did not deserve to win that award, which properly should have gone to Amour. But if you could look past the Tarantino of what he was saying and just get to the heart of it, he was thanking his cast. Albeit in his own way, but he was thanking them, saying that nobody would pay attention to even a good script without a good cast. And he, in his Tarantino way, said nice things to the other screenwriters in the audience. Was it done in his usual "I'm the center of the universe and I'm so terrific" way? Oh boy, yes.

There was also a serious sound mixing problem during the performances of both "Goldfinger" and "Skyfall" where the singer's voice was constantly getting drowned out by the music. I think this also happened during Jennifer Hudson's song as well.

Based on the gossip coming from Nikki Finke, assuming half of it has any truth, a Bond reunion onstage would be impossible. Her account about Sean Connery is accurate, in that he's been angry with the Broccoli family (and with Saltzman before that) over how he feels he was not adequately compensated, likely not only in salary but in merchandising, etc. Which is strange since his last official time out on Diamonds Are Forever netted him a massive check, which I understood that he gave to charity at the time. Her account about Pierce Brosnan is strange. I had not heard that he was removed from the role. I heard that he either didn't want to do the role any longer after 4 movies, or that he asked for a much bigger paycheck. Either way, his time was done after Die Another Day. Interesting that she left Timothy Dalton off that list. Her comment about Roger Moore is probably correct, although I doubt he was "dying" to do it. He's a gentleman and would have been happy to make an appearance. Her comment about Daniel Craig was where she got really nasty. Craig is not a lapdog for the Broccolis. He's parlayed his Bond work into several other major roles as well. He's handled the situation as well as anyone has, and he genuinely enjoys playing the role. And he's done a subtle job of playing the role as well. I realize he's not Andy's favorite at it (I read the Skyfall review) but I find his work more complex and interesting. He was a refreshing surprise in Casino Royale and he's gotten better with each movie, in my opinion.

[AndyDursin]

Pierce Brosnan is strange. I had not heard that he was removed from the role. I heard that he either didn't want to do the role any longer after 4 movies, or that he asked for a much bigger paycheck.

He was removed. I couldn't recall the specifics either, but judging from what Brosnan said just a couple of years ago, certainly sounds like her story checks out:

In a recent interview with ABC News Now’s “Popcorn With
Peter Travers,” the star of Roman Polanski’s new movie, “The Ghost Writer,”
revealed that he’s still wondering why he got booted from the Bond franchise in
2004. Brosnan played the international man of mystery in “GoldenEye,” “Tomorrow
Never Dies,” “The World Is Not Enough” and “Die Another Day.”

“I was wondering why the door closed on me!,” he said of
being dropped from the role. “I thought everything was going so well! You
know ‘Come back,’ they say, ‘Come back’ and there you go! We won’t talk about
that.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainme ... ames-bond/

Brosnan said he was willing, even eager, to do a fifth and final Bond, adding that 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson had asked him to return, although no contracts were signed. "They invited me back right before I went to present that film. They said: ‘We’re so happy with the success, we want you to come back!’ I went on the road as a happy man, you know. I thought we’d get a fifth and no more. That would be it, really. And then one day the phone rang – I was here (in Nassau shooting After the Sunset) – and my agents told me that the goal posts had moved and that they had changed their minds," Brosnan said with a weary tone, with a sigh.

The now Irish-American actor added that "It’s very hard to find the truth in that town (Hollywood) or in this business at times. But it was their prerogative to change their minds. They can do it!" And they might have done it "to go younger," Brosnan said. "It was disappointing. It was surprising. And I accepted the knowledge (that his run as 007 was over for good) after 24 hours of being in shock."

http://commanderbond.net/2557/brosnan-f ... -role.html

[AndyDursin]

Michelle Obama's appearance was apparently due to (who else) the Weinsteins getting involved. They also hired the Obamas' former election operative Stephanie Cutter effort to augment a campaign for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (Judging from Jennifer Lawrence being the film's sole win, not sure how well that worked out.).

This article gives a fascinating, if not disturbing, look into the whole lovefest going on between this administration and the White House. Bradley Cooper meeting Joe Biden for a discussion on mental health reform -- are you serious? Good to know they've got their priorities in order in Washington! (But Jennifer Lawrence not attending that meeting with Biden? More reason to love her IMO.

...The thought seems to be that if Hollywood is as taken with it’s dreamy choice for President as it seemed to be, then of course they’ll listen to his office when it comes to who to vote for in their own circles. Weinstein followed up Cutter’s hire with a press conference at the Center for American Progress, where the film’s star Bradley Cooper partnered with Sen. Debbie Stabenow and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy in an effort to tie the film, which focuses on Cooper’s character’s recovery from mental illness, into society’s treatment of those diagnosed with mental illness, especially in the wake of the Newtown shootings. And then he arranged for Cooper and the film’s director, David O. Russell, to have a high-profile meeting with Vice President Biden (Jennifer Lawrence, who won the film’s only Oscar, notably declined to attend the meeting) to discuss mental health treatment reform. Weinstein also pulled in perennial Democratic media darlings and Sunday talk-show loudmouths, including Senator Chris Dodd, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand, to beat the drum of mental health as Cutter made the connections to Silver Linings elsewhere in the press. As buzz for the picture built in Hollywood, Weinstein seems to have tried to orchestrate a full-on Oscar coup, bringing the First Lady in to, presumably, have the winner he paid for announce, well, a second winner he paid for.

http://nakeddc.com/2013/02/25/michelle- ... -work-out/

[Jedbu]

IMHO, Nikki Finke (perfect last name, by the way) is what The Onion tweeted about that little girl last night, which was one of the most reprehensible things I have ever seen.

[AndyDursin]

IMHO, Nikki Finke (perfect last name, by the way) is what The Onion tweeted about that little girl last night, which was one of the most reprehensible things I have ever seen.

Wow, harsh! I'm not a fan of hers personally but I have to give credit where it's due. Finke's analysis of certain things I always take with a grain of salt -- and I disagree with her "Snarking" of the Oscars nearly every year -- but her news-breaking ability? She's almost never wrong. More scoops come out of that site than anywhere else, from box-office figures to industry info, TV series and casting news. I have to give her credit on that end of things. I defy anyone to point out how many times she's been wrong on news items, or show another outlet that gets as much news as Deadline. It almost never happens (and she'll tell you this over and over again too with her TOLDJA, lol).

The Onion's comment was absolutely reprehensible like you said Jeff. It's unbelievable. You wonder where the editorial function has gone for them, or anyone else working in the media these days.

[DavidBanner]

I hadn't read that material about Brosnan, so that was new to me. But I do remember he was not exactly happy-go-lucky about continuing to play Bond. He made pointed comments about wanting to do more substantial work and it was clear to me after his third movie that the price tag for him was going up along with his other conditions. I think the producers looked at their options and chose between paying him more money and giving him more power, or rebooting and trying something new. Personally, I'm happy they made the change. He was an okay Bond, and two of his movies were pretty good. But if a fifth one with was going to be like Die Another Day, I'm happier they went with Craig and Casino Royale.

As I said, I don't have any opinion about the politics of having Michelle Obama on the telecast. I just thought it was distracting and unnecessary. It would have been more appropriate to have a live feed with someone from Hollywood who genuinely couldn't be there. (Like what happened when Stanley Kubrick got a DGA Award while shooting Eyes Wide Shut and relayed a taped message.) All putting the First Lady on did was give a bunch of radio people and pundits something to complain about, which they will now do for a week. That's not what the Oscars are about.

As for Nikki Finke, she gets a lot of information from embittered office assistants who don't like their bosses and are willing to feed her information like the industry's resident Gossip Girl. This gets her a lot of "scoops", many of which come before the people involved have prepared their press releases. In some cases, the industry people are sending her information to pre-empt the "scoops". But what I've seen of her conduct shows her to be a reprehensible person. Her behavior during the 2007-08 WGA Strike caused misery and hardship for thousands of people, while she enriched herself and made millions. She has no basis to be taking the moral high ground about anything in this business, and I don't use that language lightly. Her "Live Snarking" usually consists of personal and nasty comments about people winning awards, at a level of bile that sours the whole affair. I normally don't read her postings other than to look for potential casting news when the various pilots lock in people and the press info goes out. She's also a good barometer if someone on either side of the equation is fomenting another strike. And I agree that the Onion comment was wildly offensive. But Nikki Finke has said and done far worse, both during her time at the LA WEEKLY and since she began inflicting her website.

BTW - the Weinsteins actually wound up with 3 Oscars when all was said and done - one for Silver Linings, which will still do well both at the theater and when it hits video in a couple of month, and two for Django. I don't know about who the Weinsteins hire each year, but give them credit for an overall track record. And they have good taste in movies too. I certainly have purchased a bunch of their movies on disc and I'm happy they helped get them to me.

[AndyDursin]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Broccolis were wrong to go with Craig. The issue is that Brosnan wanted to come back for one more film so in his mind, he probably is bitter and, IMO, justifiably so if they indicated to him he was coming back. These guys always want to "stretch" and talk about "breaking out of Bond" at times, but I don't remember there being this huge struggle there or the talk about money being a huge sticking point (if you can find a story to the contrary send it along, I'd be interested in reading it).

Certainly DIE ANOTHER DAY was a massive hit -- its actual filmic qualities notwithstanding -- so he probably was shocked they decided to go somewhere else, especially after they told him they wanted him to return.

Even if he did hold out for more cash, he probably felt as if he deserved it, so either way, her story checks out to me. Some bad blood there and obviously with Connery too.