Oscar Predictions & Your Awards

[jennyk]

The list of Oscar nominees is here.

Who do you think will win big at the Oscars? What will be the major upsets? If you had the choice, who and what would be winning awards?

Sound off! I want to hear what you all think!

(And look for my Oscar predictions in the Life section in Sunday's paper!)

[miriam1]

I looked at the list of nominees and have to say I haven't seen many of them. I think Slum Dog Millionaire and The Dark Knight will take home a few, just because they won previous awards. Why don't these movies show in the smaller town theatres? Not enough revenue?

[HoosierHelen]

I agree Miriam, after reading the list, I realized how few new movies I've seen this year.

Some of them look pretty interesting too. This is probably why they don't do early releases in Indiana...too many Hoosiers willing to wait for the DVD release so they can watch it on their wide screens from our personal recliners. LOL! I guess I should only speak for myself here.

[matt_s]

The only category I can make an educated/informed choice in is animated feature and I've only seen 2 of the 3 (haven't seen Bolt Yet), but I can't imagine that its as good or better than Wall-e.

Yes, I have a 5 year old.

[jennyk]

Don't worry, Matt, I have seen all three animated features, and I don't even have a five-year-old to blame it on. I liked all three movies, but "WALL-E" is heads and tails above "Bolt" and "Kung Fu Panda."

Miriam, I'm not exactly sure why small-town Indiana doesn't get many movies. I think that the movie distributors probably think that people in Auburn aren't going to be interested in a movie that isn't incredibly popular. To some extent, they're right —*I can't see "Milk," a biopic about America's first openly gay elected official, playing really well here. Something like "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Reader" or "Frost/Nixon" might have better luck, and I believe all three showed or are showing in Fort Wayne. The closest "Milk" came is Indianapolis and Chicago.

To a certain extent, I think that distributors think we're a bunch of hickish yokels around here, and that we can't appreciate a complex movie, or one with subtitles. They may be right, to a certain extent anyway — for a brief time, there was an arthouse theater on the north side of Fort Wayne, by Kohl's (it used to be a first-run mainstream theater). That lasted for all of 10 minutes.

There are also less screens in this area so the distributors want to show movies that they think will get the most ticket sales.

When it comes to movies, I really miss living in Bloomington, where a lot of artsy, independent and smaller-release movies played, many when they were still out on limited release. It was one of the joys of living in a good college town.

[nathandiehl]

When it comes to movies, I really miss living in Bloomington, where a lot of artsy, independent and smaller-release movies played, many when they were still out on limited release. It was one of the joys of living in a good college town.

I haven't lived or spent a load of time in Fort Wayne for several years, but isn't the Civic Center still showing indy movies?

[nathandiehl]

Miriam, I'm not exactly sure why small-town Indiana doesn't get many movies. I think that the movie distributors probably think that people in Auburn aren't going to be interested in a movie that isn't incredibly popular. To some extent, they're right —*I can't see "Milk," a biopic about America's first openly gay elected official, playing really well here. Something like "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Reader" or "Frost/Nixon" might have better luck, and I believe all three showed or are showing in Fort Wayne. The closest "Milk" came is Indianapolis and Chicago.

FYI, Milk will be playing at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne at the end of this month.

[evilkumquat]

People need to remember that the Academy Awards are seldom, if ever, based on popular opinions of the movies nominated and box office draw is never a consideration.

The Academy members (the ones who do the actual voting) are exclusively members of the industry, not the general public.

They are often privy to those who made the films and often vote not on the merits of the art, but the artists behind them... many of which may have alienated their fair share of voters through prima donna behavior through the years (just ask Russell Crowe).

The studios also bombard the voters with tons of advertising and "gifts" in order to sway the results, as well.

Films that are considered "Oscar worthy" are also usually saved until the end of the year so they are kept fresh in the voters' minds, leaving those released early in the year forgotten... although most released in that time are usually considered trash by the studios anyway (which is why they're released so early).

So bottom line, the Academy Awards is nothing but politics and brown-nosing by the motion picture industry and has little to nothing to do with the rest of us.

That's why the People's Choice Awards appeal more to me personally: we choose those winners.

[jennyk]

You're right, Evil - it's a very political contest. Though, some years it seems worse than others. The last few years, including this one, the films nominated have been ones that no one saw except Hollywood insiders. But, looking back, in previous years a lot of the films that won were really popular —*like "Lord of the Rings," "Titanic," "Gladiator," "Braveheart," "Silence of the Lambs," "Rocky," etc. (And some of them aren't quite as great as others ...) I think it depends on the year. It seems like big epics used to be the thing, but now smaller dramas are what wins.

(All the winners can be found here.)

If it were up to me, I think "Iron Man" might win for Best Picture this year. I thought it was a really well-made movie, and I had fun watching it! And Robert Downey Jr. would be best actor, between "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder." The man's made a fabulous comeback!

[miriam1]

While I didn't see Tropic Thunder, I agree that Robert Downey Jr. has made a such a come back. I thought he was an outstanding actor years ago but then with his drug problem I thought that the only thing we would hear about him was rehab, rehab, rehab and then maybe his obit. I am so happy this is not the case. He did such a great job in Iron Man. It was one of my favorite movies of the year. I am looking forward to seeing more of him (hehe) in other films.

[evilkumquat]

If it were up to me, I think "Iron Man" might win for Best Picture this year. I thought it was a really well-made movie, and I had fun watching it! And Robert Downey Jr. would be best actor, between "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder." The man's made a fabulous comeback!

Oh, he'll always be little Derek from Back to School to me...

But yeah, Iron Man definitely earned some accolades.

As to the the recent spate of blockbusters winning awards, could that simply be a grateful Academy thanking those movie makers for helping save a financially troubled Hollywood?

[james_t]

If it were up to me, I think "Iron Man" might win for Best Picture this year. I thought it was a really well-made movie, and I had fun watching it! And Robert Downey Jr. would be best actor, between "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder." The man's made a fabulous comeback!

They'd have to change the trophy:

ironoscar.jpg

[evilkumquat]

They'd have to change the trophy:

ironoscar.jpg

Hah!

Nice one!

[jennyk]

While I didn't see Tropic Thunder, I agree that Robert Downey Jr. has made a such a come back. I thought he was an outstanding actor years ago but then with his drug problem I thought that the only thing we would hear about him was rehab, rehab, rehab and then maybe his obit. I am so happy this is not the case. He did such a great job in Iron Man. It was one of my favorite movies of the year. I am looking forward to seeing more of him (hehe) in other films.

I really appreciated that he, for the most part, stayed out of the spotlight until he got sober. I think that's part of what made his comeback work —*people weren't sick of hearing about him because no one had heard about him for years.

(Plus, he is yummy! Shhhh!)

[james_t]

We didn't mention it earlier because we were still setting it up, but we have an Oscar picks contest starting today:

http://www.fwdailynews.com/forms/oscars/

[jennyk]

I finally got to see "Slumdog Millionaire" yesterday. I will have a review in Sunday's Life section. I don't want to give away my whole review, but I will say that it was a great movie, and it deserves the hype surrounding it.

Also on the Oscar front, I'm going to see "Milk" tonight at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne with one of my friends. I'm planning to review it as well, and put the review online. James or myself will post links when they get done.

Has anyone had a chance to see either movie? What were your opinions?

(And don't forget to participate in the Oscars prediction contest! You know you want to ...)

[jennyk]

My review of "Slumdog Millionaire" is here and my review of "Milk" is here. Both were phenomenal, albeit very different, movies. I still think "Slumdog Millionaire" will win the Oscar, but I actually enjoyed "Milk" just a little bit better.