Academy Awards

[anne]

Are we goinmg to have an Oscar competition this year?  I'd like to see if I can retain my wooden spoon  :-D
Anne

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Yes, most most definitely Anne. It is a tradition dating back to 2009.
By the way, here are previous winners ( would like to point out that
Stephen & I won last year and we intend to defend our title!):

The winners from 2009 are:

1) Linda
2) Steve
3) Thorkell

The winners from 2010 are:

1) Jake
2) Linda
3) Srikanth & Bobby

The winners from 2011 are:

1) Stephen & Thorkell
2) Linda
3) Wayne

[Zelia Trueb]

Wow, Linda can hold herself pretty good...

Zelia

Sent from my iPad

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

She cheats every time. Does not count! ;)

[Linda Key]

Haha! Thanks Zelia! I've been quite lucky. Is Stephen same as Steve? I think it may be but I'm not sure. If so, he's quite a competition.

-Linda

[Bobby Beksinski]

Hey can we post the rules to The Oscar Game again for those who have
never played and those like myself who have forgotten. lol, I figure
its getting pretty close now and since the nominations are in, we
might as well begin submitting our predictions.

On Jan 24, 10:07 am, Linda Key <linda...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Haha! Thanks Zelia! I've been quite lucky. Is Stephen same as Steve? I
> think it may be but I'm not sure. If so, he's quite a competition.
>
> -Linda
>
> On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 3:59 AM, Thorkell A. Ottarsson

> <thork...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > She cheats every time. Does not count! ;)
>

> > On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 9:51 AM, Zelia Trueb <zxtr...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > > Wow, Linda can hold herself pretty good...
>
> > > Zelia
>
> > > Sent from my iPad
>

> > > On Jan 24, 2012, at 3:45 AM, "Thorkell A. Ottarsson" <thork...@gmail.com>

[Linda Key]

Well, we did it a little differently last year than the years before. Last year, we put all the movies in the order from "Most likely to win" to "Least likely to win". You get points based on how correct you are. For example, if the winner was the first on your list, you get most points (4 or 9, depends on category), if it is the second on your list, you get one point less, so on and so forth. If your "least likely to win" happen to be the winner, you would end up with 0 points. We also filled out who we think deserves to win, just for fun.

The years before, we chose a "WILL WIN" and "WILL NOT WIN" for each category. We get 1 point for guessing correctly, and lose 1 point for guessing completely wrong (when WILL NOT WIN actually wins).

I do like the simplicity of the old system, but I also like the fairness of the new system. It's up to all of you which system we should do this year. However, if we are using the new system, I have one suggestion - instead of listing the movies from MOST LIKELY TO WIN to LEAST LIKELY TO WIN, let's list it the other way around, from LEAST LIKELY TO WIN to MOST LIKELY TO WIN, and instead of giving 0 points for being completely wrong, let's do 1 point, the rest stays the same. (So the most you can earn would be 5 or 10 for each category.) The reason for this is, when you list them in order, the placement of the winning movie on your order would correspond to the number of points you get. For example, for the Best Actress category, I could hypothetically have my list like this:

From LEAST LIKELY TO WIN to MOST LIKELY TO WIN:
1. Viola Davis
2. Glenn Close
3. Rooney Mara
4. Michelle Williams
5. Meryl Streep

See, if Meryl Streep wins, I get 5 points, because it's 5th on my list. This would make tallying up the score a lot easier and less room for mistakes.

I hope I made a little bit of sense. lol.

-Linda

[Linda Key]

I just realized the BEST PICTURE category "only" has 9 movies this year. Thus the point values I quoted was not accurate. Sorry for the confusion!

-Linda

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Sounds great Linda. Good work!

THorkell

[Bobby Beksinski]

makes sense with the new way and how you explained it.

OK, Well I'm ready to start it off to get the ball rolling. my
predictions are (drumroll......)

BEST PICTURE

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Least Likely to Win)
2. Warhorse
3. The Help
4. Midnight In Paris
5. Moneyball
6. The Tree of Life (Deserves to Win)
7. Hugo
8. The Descendants
9. The Artist (Most Likely to Win)

BEST ACTOR

1. Demián Bichir - A Better Life (Least Likely to Win)
2. Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
3. Brad Pitt - Moneyball
4. Jean Dujardin - The Artist (Deserves To Win)
5. George Clooney - The Descendants (Most Likely to Win)

BEST ACTRESS

1. Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Least Likely to Win)
2. Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
3. Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn (Deserves to Win)
4. Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
5. Viola Davis - The Help (Most Likely to Win)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Jonah Hill - Moneyball (Least Likely to Win)
2. Max Von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
3. Nick Nolte - Warrior
4. Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
5. Christopher Plummer - Beginners (Most Likely To Win)
(Deserves to win is a non-nominee of Albert Brooks in Drive)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs (Least Likely to Win)
2. Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
3. Jessica Chastain - The Help (Deserves to Win for multiple movies)
4. Berenice Bejo - The Artist
5. Octavia Spencer - The Help (Most Likely to Win)

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris (Least Likely to Win)
2. Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life (Deserves To Win)
3. Alexander Payne - The Descendants
4. Martin Scorcese - Hugo
5. Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist (Most Likely to Win)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Bridesmaids (Least Likely to Win)
2. Margin Call
3. A Separation
4. Midnight in Paris (Deserves to Win)
5. The Artist (Most Likely to Win)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Hugo (Least Likely to Win)
2. The Ides Of March
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4. Moneyball
5. The Descendants (Most Likely to Win)
(I dont have a deserves to win in this category as I felt all of the
scripts adapted from previous material this year has not been of best
quality. Not even one of my favorite films this year Drive based off
of a novel deserves this award for its script. Drive succeeded mainly
on the direction of Refn and other elements but the script was not one
of them.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1.The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Least Likely to Win)
2. Hugo
3. The Artist
4. War Horse
5. The Tree Of life (Most Likely to Win) (Deserves To Win)

BEST ART DIRECTION

1. Harry Potter (Least Likely To Win)
2. Midnight in Paris
3. Warhorse
4. Hugo
5. The Artist (Most Likely To Win) (Deserves To Win)

BEST COSTUME DIRECTION

1. Anonymous (Least Likely to Win)
2. Jane Eyre
3. W.E.
4. Hugo
5. The Artist (Most Likely to Win) (Deserves to Win)

BEST SOUND MIXING

1. Transformers (Least Likely to Win)
2. Moneyball
3. Warhorse
4. Hugo
5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Most Likely To Win) (Deserves To
Win)

BEST FILM EDITING

1. Hugo (Least Likely to Win)
2. Moneyball
3. The Descendants
4. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
5. The Artist (Most Likely to Win) (Deserves To Win)

BEST SOUND EDITING

1. Transformers (Least Likely To Win)
2. Warhorse
3. Drive (Deserves To Win)
4. Hugo
5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Most Likely To Win)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Transformers (Least Likely to Win)
2. Harry Potter
3. Real Steel
4. Rise Of The Planet of The Apes
5. Hugo (Most Likely To Win)
(Deserves to Win is The Tree of Life and it was a travesty it was not
even nominated. The creation of Earth sequence is one of the most
beautiful and artistic pieces I have ever seen done with special
effects next to Antichrist.)

BEST MAKEUP

1. Albert Nobbs (Least Likely to Win)
2. The Iron Lady
3. Harry Potter (Most Likely to Win)
(I actually think this is a category that Hugo deserves to win for the
flashback scenes that make Ben Kingsley look so young)

BEST SONG

1. Rio (Least Likely To Win)
2. The Muppets (Most Likely To Win)
(Deserves to win? How about Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Karen O's
cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in The Girl With The Dragon
Tattoo)

BEST SCORE

1. The Adventures of Tin Tin (Least Likely To Win)
2. Warhorse
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4. Hugo
5. The Artist (Most Likely To Win)
(Deserves to win is non nominee DRIVE which is hands down the best
music that fitted with its film)

BEST SHORT FILM ANIMATED

1. Dimanche
2. A Morning Stroll
3. La Luna
4. The Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore
5. Wild Life
(Pure Guesses)

BEST SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION

1. Raju
2. Pentecost
3. Time Freak
4. Tube Atlantic
(Again pure guesses)

BEST SHORT FILM DOCUMENTARY

1. Saving Face
2. The Barber of Birmingham
3. Incident in New Baghdad
4. The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1. Undefeated (Least Likely To Win)
2. Hell and Back Again
3. If a Tree falls
4. Pina
5. Paradise Lost 3 (Most Likely To Win)
(Have not seen any documentaries this year besides Buck which was not
deserving)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. Monsieur Lazhar (Least Likely To Win)
2. Footnote
3. Bullhead
4. In Darkness
5. A Separation (Most Likely To Win)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

1. Puss In Boots (Least Likely to Win)
2. Kung fu Panda 2
3. Chico and Rita
4. A Cat in Paris
5. Rango (Most Likely To Win)

Well thats it...


On Feb 4, 12:40 am, "Thorkell A. Ottarsson" <thork...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Sounds great Linda. Good work!
>
> THorkell
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 6:06 AM, Linda Key <linda...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I just realized the BEST PICTURE category "only" has 9 movies this year.
> > Thus the point values I quoted was not accurate. Sorry for the confusion!
>
> > -Linda
>

> >> On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 7:49 PM, Bobby Beksinski <BBeksin...@hotmail.com>

[Bobby Beksinski]

Im bumping this back up to the top of the thread to find out if Im the
only one playing. so am I? :)

> ...
>
> read more »

[Linda Key]

No, Bobby. I won't let you win that easily! LOL. I'm busy watching Oscar movies and will hopefully finish most of the movies by the time the show starts so I can get my votes in! So far I've only seen THE ARTIST, THE HELP, TREE OF LIFE, and IRON LADY. I'm half way through EXTREME LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE. So I've got a long way to go. =)

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

I will post my list once Linda has posted hers. For some strange
reason it's going to be identical! ;)

Thorkell

[Linda Key]

LOL@ Thorkell! i'll make sure to post it last second then. =)

[anne]

Just wondering if anyone has agreed to be the judge this year, and which awards are we including?  Apologies if I've missed discussion of this.
Anne

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

No one has offered to be a judge so the position is open, if you would
like it Anne.

Last year the winner got an extra host month. We could do the same if
everyone agrees. If two or three end up winning then I think they
should all get the month together. Each could nominate one or more
directors/themes.

Thorkell

[Linda Key]

I just finished THE DESCENDANTS and EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE. I have to say, this is a sad sad year for the Oscars, IMHO. Not just the movies are quite average, the movie themes are all so depressing! Anyone else agrees?

P.S. I don't mind doing the tally if no one else wants to. :)

Linda

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

I don't mind sad subjects but yes the films are not very good. You are
welcome to it Linda.

[Mindy Arbo]

Yes, what a bad year. I can't remember this long a stretch w/o being drawn to the theatre.

Of all the films we saw earlier this year, I thought Tree of Life and especially Take Shelter- were the oscar-worthy works.

Has anyone seen The Artist? The previews look so slapstick that they put me off,

but it has rcvd star reviews across the boards. what did you think of it?

thnx,

mindy

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

The Artist is a very cute and sweat film. A charmer.

Thorkell

[Josh Waterman]

Are we doing shorts? It's usually just a guess for me, since they're often pretty inaccessible.

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Yes everything!

[Linda Key]

Sometimes you can find the shorts on youtube, Josh.

THE ARTIST is amazing! I hope it wins best picture.

Linda

[anne]

I have to diagree with a previous comment, I thought 2011 was a pretty good year for film. 
These, in no particular order, are films from 2011 I think were good.  The Artist, La piel que habito, Tropa de Elite 2 - O Inimigo Agora É Outro, The Guard, The Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Elle s'appelait Sarah, My Week with Marilyn, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Anonymous, Storm, Midnight in Paris, Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Killing Bono, The Inbetweeners Movie, Attack the Block and Source Code.  I haven't included any 2010 films that first saw light of day outside film festivals in 2011, just films that are dated 2011 on IMDb.  And I haven't seen Hugo yet....
Anne

[Linda Key]

Yes Anne, overall it's not too bad, but a lot of the movies you mentioned are not nominated for Oscars. Also, I didn't enjoy some of the ones you did mention, but I know my taste is limited. I haven't heard of some of the ones you mentioned - so thanks for mentioning them! Maybe I'll find some more I like. :)

-Linda

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Anne, look at the films nominated 2008 (films from 2007):

No Country for Old Men
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood

And compare them with the films nominated this year and you know what
we are talking about :)

I have not seen all the films you listed Anne but the ones I have seen I liked.

Thorkell

[Mindy Arbo]

you certainly make the point, thorkell

[anne]

I misunderstood the comment about 2011 films, mistakenly though the whoe year was meant rather than just the Oscars, I should read more carefully, that was my fault.  But I still think 2011 wasn't bad, and the comparison to the 2008 Oscars doesn't help; I disliked No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, haven't seen Michael Clayton, thought Juno was ok, liked Atonement on second viewing.  But as previously pointed out my taste in film is appalling, so that means nothing.
Anne (reigning loser of the Oscars competition I believe)

[Linda Key]

LOL@Anne. You don't take yourself seriously. I love that. And you argued your point well. It's just that we don't have the same taste in movies. I loved every movie on the list Thorkell gave. Which is also interesting since I know I don't always have the same taste as Thorkell.

-Linda

[Linda Key]

Sorry I meant to say "you don't take yourself too seriously".

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Appalling taste? Did you write this Anne or did the elk come for a visit? (a joke only my Facebook friends will understand).

Maybe you will like the other ones also on 2nd viewing Anne? :)

My point is that there is not much challenging or new this year at the Oscars, except Tree of Life. The only new thing about the Artist is that a modern silent film got popular. 

Thorkell

[Mindy Arbo]

 

xo mindy

[Mindy Arbo]

'new' ish/ not the norm>> how could I forget Melancholia?

Take Shelter

Melancholia

Tree of Life

 

La Piel- not revolutionary, but still great.

all very worthy of multiple views and big kudos, imo.

I so want to see We Need to talk About Kevin.

anne, which Storm? there are many , including shorts.

[anne]

Mindy
Storm (2011) http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1785581/combined can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U.  Tim Minchin at his best imo (and I don't agree with everything he says in the film).
Anne

[anne]

I've just watched another excellent film from 2011, which has won several film and festival awards - Tyrannosaur was very, very good.  Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan were wonderful, if anyone comes across this film I highly recommend that you watch it.

Anne

On 15/02/2012 07:38, Mindy Arbo wrote:

[Linda Key]

Everything by Tim Minchin is pure gold. That guy is a genius. Absolutely love him!

Linda