81st Annual Academy Awards

[Doctor Jones]

I actually was working on a Hollywood spoof on its actors and I believe UF mentioned that Will Smith would try really hard to get into a Oscar nominated role and stop from the box office winners.

 

[Prison Mike]

I liked Smith in Seven Pounds. I still think The Pursuit of Happyness is the best film he has done.

 

[Sentinel X]

^Pursuit of Happyness was so trite to me. I know its a true story but its basically a Hallmark movie. His best role and best film is by far Ali, imo.

 

[Prison Mike]

it's supposed to be a "feel good" film that lifts your spirit up. much like slumdog millionaire.

 

[Episode29]

it's supposed to be a "feel good" film that lifts your spirit up. much like slumdog millionaire.

Yeah, but while Slumdug had a unqiue directorial vision and exciting, visceral style, PoH was a bland tear-jerker. It also drove me nuts with its insistence on driving home it's "Based on a True Story" conceit, only to shoe-horn in a bunch of cheesy sitcom-level humour moments and coincidences. That bum who thought that machine was a time machine? Get the **** outta here. Oh, and Thandi Newton was a cartoon.

Will was the only saving grace of the film.

 

[Asr]

Postmortem thoughts:

- It kept annoying me that undeserving movies kept winning specific awards just for the sake of an awards sweep. As in, Benjamin Button getting Visual Effects over Iron Man (how is the aging/de-aging better? wtf?), Slumdog getting Sound Mixing over Wall-E (another wtf, the sound was completely done from scratch in Wall-E), Slumdog getting Original Score (on what basis? just because it's Indian music?), Slumdog getting Cinematography (TDK used freakin' IMAX cameras!), Benjamin Button getting Makeup over Hellboy II, et al. It's so pitiful the Oscar voters hand these awards out just for a stupid sweep, they should give each Oscar to its most deserving movie regardless of what other movie(s) are getting the big acting, directing, or best-pic awards.

- I agree with the previous post, the previous Oscar winners handing out the acting awards reeked of ego-stroking. I rolled my eyes every time that happened.

- Hugh Jackman was a great host.

- The Ledger family's acceptance speech was really nice too, though personally I would've preferred Nolan doing that.

- The Oscars were irrelevant before and they're even more irrelevant now. The Oscar voters need to step it up by awarding deserving movies.

 

[The Shape]

^ Totally agree, dude.

 

[Episode29]

- The Oscars were irrelevant before and they're even more irrelevant now. The Oscar voters need to step it up by awarding deserving movies.

"Deserving" by whose criteria though? I thought Slumdog, Milk and a bunch of others were very deserving. I also would argue that Benjamin Button's effects were far more award-worthy than Iron Man's due to the fact that they had the harder task of getting audiences to emotionally invest themselves in a dramatic lead CG performance. IM looked great and all, but emotionless metal is much easier to render that what they did in BB.

 

[The Shape]

"Deserving" by whose criteria though? I thought Slumdog, Milk and a bunch of others were very deserving. I also would argue that Benjamin Button's effects were far more award-worthy than Iron Man's due to the fact that they had the harder task of getting audiences to emotionally invest themselves in a dramatic lead CG performance. IM looked great and all, but emotionless metal is much easier to render that what they did in BB.

I don't know how people don't think TDK deserved this effects award. "Visual Effects", not just CGI. The effects teamd on TDK had to constantly produce convincing practical stunts. For example: blowing up a hospital, flipping an 18-wheeler, and crafting a nearly all-real car chase featuring an innovative prototype motorcycle that was fully operational, hust to name a few.

On top of that, the CGI team has to work on things like Two Face and other CGI setpieces, moments like Batman's jump and glide in Hong Kong, which looks absolutely amazing, especially compared to any of the lousy CGI in Iron Man.

 

[Episode29]

I don't know how people don't think TDK deserved this effects award. "Visual Effects", not just CGI. The effects teamd on TDK had to constantly produce convincing practical stunts. For example: blowing up a hospital, flipping an 18-wheeler, and crafting a nearly all-real car chase featuring an innovative prototype motorcycle that was fully operational, hust to name a few.

On top of that, the CGI team has to work on things like Two Face and other CGI setpieces, moments like Batman's jump and glide in Hong Kong, which looks absolutely amazing, especially compared to any of the lousy CGI in Iron Man.

Yeah, I agree with TDK being a very worthy winner, but c'mon, we all know that the award goes to the "best" CG nowadays. TDK's CG wasn't inherently noticable, hence it didn't resonate with voters. However, after watching BB I'm sure many said "The CG looked great!".

Remember, The Golden Compass won a year or so ago...

 

[Crook]

- It kept annoying me that undeserving movies kept winning specific awards just for the sake of an awards sweep. As in, Benjamin Button getting Visual Effects over Iron Man (how is the aging/de-aging better? wtf?)

The majority of the credit goes to the first half of the movie. Where Brad Pitt's head is not only superimposed in post-production, but it was completely computer generated. Did you know that?

TCOBB more than deserves this award. I find it laughable that anyone could find it any other way. This film raised the bar in sfx. IM did not. Period.

 

[Asr]

"Deserving" by whose criteria though? I thought Slumdog, Milk and a bunch of others were very deserving. I also would argue that Benjamin Button's effects were far more award-worthy than Iron Man's due to the fact that they had the harder task of getting audiences to emotionally invest themselves in a dramatic lead CG performance. IM looked great and all, but emotionless metal is much easier to render that what they did in BB.

I guess we'd have to agree to disagree, because it's a Visual Effects award, not an acting award. Iron Man's effects were more than just its CGI (which itself was more than just the IM suit). Facial morphing has been done since the 90s, it's an old technique! And did anyone forget Tony Stark's interactive holographic computer?

 

[Episode29]

The majority of the credit goes to the first half of the movie. Where Brad Pitt's head is not only superimposed in post-production, but it was completely computer generated. Did you know that?

TCOBB more than deserves this award. I find it laughable that anyone could find it any other way. This film raised the bar in sfx. IM did not. Period.

Damn skippy!

 

[cerealkiller182]

The majority of the credit goes to the first half of the movie. Where Brad Pitt's head is not only superimposed in post-production, but it was completely computer generated. Did you know that?

TCOBB more than deserves this award. I find it laughable that anyone could find it any other way. This film raised the bar in sfx. IM did not. Period.

Not a lot of people understand the circumstances of "how" the Benjamin Button effects came to be. While it deserved it IMO, there was no doubt in my mind that such a reaction would come from it.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I haven't seen Button but I was rooting for Iron Man.

I love Will Smith and loved what he said.

 

[Crook]

Not a lot of people understand the circumstances of "how" the Benjamin Button effects came to be. While it deserved it IMO, there was no doubt in my mind that such a reaction would come from it.

That only makes the case for TCOBB more poignant. Not only did it raise the bar in technical terms, but it was so transparent that many people haven't even noticed the achievement! That's cg artistry at it's finest.

I was talking to a couple friends of mine who also wanted IM to win, and I just couldn't see why. They told me TCOBB was nothing special vfx-wise, until I showed them complete articles detailing the process. Their minds were blown. They had no idea Pitt wasn't even in the movie for that first hour.

 

[Episode29]

That only makes the case for TCOBB more poignant. Not only did it raise the bar in technical terms, but it was so transparent that many people haven't even noticed the achievement! That's cg artistry at it's finest.

I was talking to a couple friends of mine who also wanted IM to win, and I just couldn't see why. They told me TCOBB was nothing special vfx-wise, until I showed them complete articles detailing the process. Their minds were blown. They had no idea Pitt wasn't even in the movie for that first hour.

Much less the crap-load of unnoticable CG which Fincher probably coated the film with.

Judging from this clip of Zodiac's CG-use (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT491ctM8Kk) there was very likely bucketloads of effects in BB so lifelike that no one even noticed them.

 

[danoyse]

Ah yes, the Boy from Oz. He was brilliant in that. I loved when he used the character to host the Tonys. I also saw the video of his version of Curly in Oklahoma in London (Patrick Wilson, Night Owl himself, played the part on Broadway for comic geeks out there!) and he is the best I've seen in the role.

And apparently the good reviews of Jackman are about 1.5 to 1 in favor of. But the snarkiest got AP attention. However, I'm glad to see most liked his hosting job. And I saw Jon Stewart's reaction, it was funny.

I have the Oklahoma DVD too, I love it. I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it when I was in London that summer. But The Boy From Oz was a blast. The last time I saw it, Elvis Costello was in the audience and Hugh got him up on stage to play a song with band. It was insane.

Earlier in the same show a stagehand had tried to sneak onstage to clean up a glass that had broken a few minutes earlier. Hugh stopped the show, introduced the stagehand to the audience and asked everyone to give him a round of applause, took the broom and told the stagehand he would take care of the mess himself. He swept up the broken glass and said "Sorry, someone was drinking in between shows today!" The audience was just going nuts, it was so funny.

 

[Crook]

Much less the crap-load of unnoticable CG which Fincher probably coated the film with.

Judging from this clip of Zodiac's CG-use (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT491ctM8Kk) there was very likely bucketloads of effects in BB so lifelike that no one even noticed them.

Yeah, Fincher is greatly underappreciated in this regard. It's ironic, because it's due to being so good at it.

I remember seeing that featurette last year and was mind-boggled. I had watched Zodiac three times, and not once did I even ponder that there was any use of cgi in that film. I simply assumed it was all set-built or shot for real. No reason to believe it was fabricated by a computer. Real testament to Fincher and Digital Domain. They consistently pull it off.

 

[Episode29]

Yeah, Fincher is greatly underappreciated in this regard. It's ironic, because it's due to being so good at it.

I remember seeing that featurette last year and was mind-boggled. I had watched Zodiac three times, and not once did I even ponder that there was any use of cgi in that film. I simply assumed it was all set-built or shot for real. No reason to believe it was fabricated by a computer. Real testament to Fincher and Digital Domain. They consistently pull it off.

Yeah, one of my old film criticism teachers showed us the beginning of the clip and asked us to pick out all the CGI. Needless to say, we missed quite a few.

 

[WeaponXProject]

Postmortem thoughts:

- It kept annoying me that undeserving movies kept winning specific awards just for the sake of an awards sweep. As in, Benjamin Button getting Visual Effects over Iron Man (how is the aging/de-aging better? wtf?), Slumdog getting Sound Mixing over Wall-E (another wtf, the sound was completely done from scratch in Wall-E), Slumdog getting Original Score (on what basis? just because it's Indian music?), Slumdog getting Cinematography (TDK used freakin' IMAX cameras!), Benjamin Button getting Makeup over Hellboy II, et al. It's so pitiful the Oscar voters hand these awards out just for a stupid sweep, they should give each Oscar to its most deserving movie regardless of what other movie(s) are getting the big acting, directing, or best-pic awards.

- I agree with the previous post, the previous Oscar winners handing out the acting awards reeked of ego-stroking. I rolled my eyes every time that happened.

- Hugh Jackman was a great host.

- The Ledger family's acceptance speech was really nice too, though personally I would've preferred Nolan doing that.

- The Oscars were irrelevant before and they're even more irrelevant now. The Oscar voters need to step it up by awarding deserving movies.

I on the same page as you.

The majority of the credit goes to the first half of the movie. Where Brad Pitt's head is not only superimposed in post-production, but it was completely computer generated. Did you know that?

TCOBB more than deserves this award. I find it laughable that anyone could find it any other way. This film raised the bar in sfx. IM did not. Period.

It was my second favorite. I wanted Iron Man to win bc I really didn't think they could do what they did. I'm still shocked the movie was as great as it was.

 

[Crook]

What exactly did IM do that TF didn't already achieve that previous year? Again, to me the level of difficulty that the two projects had aren't even remotely on the same level.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Even Favreau said leading up to the movie that because it was msotly metal surfaces it was going to be substantially easier than all of other stuff that could be CGI-ed

 

[Episode29]

What exactly did IM do that TF didn't already achieve that previous year? Again, to me the level of difficulty that the two projects had aren't even remotely on the same level.

It managed to hold the camera still enough to show the effects?t:

 

[WeaponXProject]

What exactly did IM do that TF didn't already achieve that previous year? Again, to me the level of difficulty that the two projects had aren't even remotely on the same level.

Not to start an argument but Transformers use of CGI was good but how the film was shot didn't let you see enough of the Transformers, they seemed to zoom in and cut scene. I thought the Iron Man CGI was better because the scenes would stay on robots more. But truthfully they weren't that different besides the fact that Bay didn't utilize it as well, IMO.

I mean the effects don't always go to the best. The only part I like of Episode 3 is the beginning shots. I don't think they won that year.

Even Favreau said leading up to the movie that because it was msotly metal surfaces it was going to be substantially easier than all of other stuff that could be CGI-ed

Maybe it was easier to do but it seemed to go beyond the expectations of people, like I said. Frankly, I'm biased. I was routing for it bc I loved the film. I'm not trying to take anything away from BB or TDK. My eyes just liked Iron Man more.