The Dark Knight The Oscar Push!

[scifiwolf]

My big beef in a lot of categories with the winner is this: Many categories can legitimately claim to have equally-deserving nominees. In those cases, I believe the winners trumped the losers for purely political reasons, like Penn over Rourke or Slumdog Millionaire in any technical category.

EDIT: Anita kind of said what I just did - lol.

 

[WVsax27]

I have the feeling TDK juuuuust beat out Slumdog for that sound editing award too.

apparently this is only the second time ever that a film nominated for both sound awards has picked one of the awards without the other...I at first thought it was the only case of this happening, but it happened once before in 1967.

 

[CaptainClown]

It isn't so much that I think Slumdog isn't deserve of that award, because as I have said it's one of only two categories where it makes my personal lineups(the other being editing), I just think both TDK and Benjamin Button were more deserving.

Yes but the implication of snubbed means it was cheated. It is like saying Slumdog millionare was absolutely awful and far inferior of TDK and should not have won.

The argument could be made both ways. While I was watching Slumdog, I noted how grainy some of the images looked. An artifact of using fairly small digital cameras. I wasn't even watching it on a particularly large screen either, and I don't consider myself an expert in resolution.

Another huge part of cinematography is the lighting design, and one could argue that TDK had a lot more of it than Slumdog, and had a much harder time with it because of the IMAX cameras. You can't hide any lights in the periphery, because the IMAX camera would get them into the shot. Slumdog was basically shot on the run, aside from the game show sequences, and they wouldn't have had to set up much lighting for that.

But I think Slumdog and TDK are both fairly atypical in terms of Oscar-type cinematography. Benjamin Button would have been more up their alley.

Anyways, since TDK was at least nominated in cinematography, that's good enough for me. Everyone votes on the winners, and as we saw with some of the Slumdog wins today, the Academy doesn't know what the heck it's doing with some of the tech awards. I have the feeling TDK juuuuust beat out Slumdog for that sound editing award too.

Grain is a choice by the cinematographer. Clarity is not always the best way to go when it comes to a story, a story like Slumdog it fit rather well. The story was basically dirty and the use of grain was perfectly fine.

Also yes lighting is a big part of Cinematography, so is compesition and so many other parts. While it is impressive that someone is using IMAX it doesn't automatically mean they should be considered for Cinematography. That would dumb it down to a technical award. It is the decisions that they make throughout the film. TDK had some great moments (beginning of the interrogation scene) but it was also a movie that was primarily filmed at night vs. Slumdog which was all over the place, and outside might I add.

However it all comes down to preference, but my major point being TDK being snubbed is a bit of a rash statement as Slumdog, Benjimin etc. All were quality contenders for the oscar.

In the end the oscars are just the academy rubbing themselves at their own 'brilliance'. I only respect Spike TV awards.

 

[CaptainClown]

My big beef in a lot of categories with the winner is this: Many categories can legitimately claim to have equally-deserving nominees. In those cases, I believe the winners trumped the losers for purely political reasons, like Penn over Rourke or Slumdog Millionaire in any technical category.

EDIT: Anita kind of said what I just did - lol.

definitly agree with that. Sean penn was eh.....

 

[Anita18]

Also yes lighting is a big part of Cinematography, so is compesition and so many other parts. While it is impressive that someone is using IMAX it doesn't automatically mean they should be considered for Cinematography. That would dumb it down to a technical award. It is the decisions that they make throughout the film. TDK had some great moments (beginning of the interrogation scene) but it was also a movie that was primarily filmed at night vs. Slumdog which was all over the place, and outside might I add.

However it all comes down to preference, but my major point being TDK being snubbed is a bit of a rash statement as Slumdog, Benjimin etc. All were quality contenders for the oscar.

In the end the oscars are just the academy rubbing themselves at their own 'brilliance'. I only respect Spike TV awards.

Cinematography IS is considered a technical award.

Anyways, I don't consider the cinematography loss for TDK a snub. Slumdog was a worthy winner, and if Benjamin Button won I wouldn't have much issue with that either. Now if The Reader had won over all three of them.....

the Spike TV awards. I caught them one year, coincidentally when my beloved Stephen Colbert won for Biggest Balls, I believe. It was awesome.

 

[WVsax27]

Yes but the implication of snubbed means it was cheated. It is like saying Slumdog millionare was absolutely awful and far inferior of TDK and should not have won.
.

When did I say that? I personally never used the term snubbed or commented in an angry way about Slumdog's win...I was just throwing my two cents into the discussion.

 

[CaptainClown]

Cinematography IS is considered a technical award.

Anyways, I don't consider the cinematography loss for TDK a snub. Slumdog was a worthy winner, and if Benjamin Button won I wouldn't have much issue with that either. Now if The Reader had won over all three of them.....

the Spike TV awards. I caught them one year, coincidentally when my beloved Stephen Colbert won for Biggest Balls, I believe. It was awesome.

Yes it is considered one, but it shouldn't be. Then again what I think is far superior then the simpletons of the Academy.

When did I say that? I personally never used the term snubbed or commented in an angry way about Slumdog's win...I was just throwing my two cents into the discussion.

I was actually talking about Minibond but using you as an example

 

[regwec]

Congrats to Heath- and to the Nolan brothers for crafting such an amazing role for him to fill.

 

[Mr. Earle]

During half of TDK the set was too dark to see anything. For example the Maroni interrogation or the Thomas Shiff one.

Nolan was supposed to be shooting in Gotham but instead he gave us Chicago. There were no glorious shots of the city, no Gotham grandeur, no shine. BB was a lot better in that aspect. Nolan missed a chance. If i was a director i would be thrilled to have a movie based in Gotham. But it seems that Nolan didnt have time for that stuff and that he wanted an even more realistic gotham this time for his crime drama to be taken seriously. He should have grabbed the chance and showed us what a good director he is, using some well placed CGI to give us a gorgeous gotham. For me it was blatantly and distractingly Chicago.

As for the cuts, they werent any good this time. Very sudden and not so well handled. I suppose its because Nolan wanted to save time.

On the other hand, the soundtrack should have taken the nomination and the oscar. You can hear it everywhere these days! I hear it in most TV shows (even Top Gear) and many ads for tv series. And its beautiful!

Whatever...

 

[Eggyman]

The icing on an extremely awesome cake

 

[CaptainClown]

During half of TDK the set was too dark to see anything. For example the Maroni interrogation or the Thomas Shiff one.

Nolan was supposed to be shooting in Gotham but instead he gave us Chicago. There were no glorious shots of the city, no Gotham grandeur, no shine. BB was a lot better in that aspect. Nolan missed a chance. If i was a director i would be thrilled to have a movie based in Gotham. But it seems that Nolan didnt have time for that stuff and that he wanted an even more realistic gotham this time for his crime drama to be taken seriously.

As for the cuts, they werent any good this time.

On the other hand, the soundtrack should have taken the nomination and the oscar. You can hear it everywhere these days! I hear it in most TV shows (even Top Gear) and many ads for tv series. And its beautiful!

Whatever...

I really do agree

 

[El Payaso]

8 nominations for a film is quite the achievement. hardly anything to scoff at. the academy that everyone is condemning gave TDK great recognition. its childish that anyone would try to invalidate and belittle that just because it didnt win everything you wanted it to win.

Yes. It's like dating 8 girls and just getting the ugliest one and one because she was previously signed to be your partner as an homage. Great achievement.

Only one other actor has won an Oscar posthumously. They didn't even give one to James Dean, after nominating him posthumously twice.

And they all died before hitting 30 and tragically?

The Best Supporting Actor field was weak this year (you really think they would have nominated RDJ in any other year?) and Heath's performance dominated the entire season, death or no death.

Hoffman weak?

But well, TDK also dominated. They had no problem in ignoring the movie though.

 

[WVsax27]

anyone else think that Pineapple Express short was really lame and unfunny?

 

[scifiwolf]

Not from the response I've seen to it.

 

[WVsax27]

na, I'm reading now a lot of people on other boards thought it was kinda stupid too...

 

[Dark Donnie]

anyone else think that Pineapple Express short was really lame and unfunny?

as Sciwolf said, judging from the responses no

 

[Mike53421]

On the other hand, the soundtrack should have taken the nomination and the oscar. You can hear it everywhere these days! I hear it in most TV shows (even Top Gear) and many ads for tv series. And its beautiful!

I believe Will Smith even got introduced last night to the theme.

The Oscars were very boring I found, maybe it's cause I didn't see the movies that were nominated but it seemed like everything happened exactly as predicted. Oh well, I'm not bitter over TDK but I just wasn't into the awards. I was rooting for Heath and Rourke, 1/2 but unfortunately Penn won in the second to last award of the night so I was too deep into the show to bail just then haha.

The Pineapple Express bit was funny, especially when Franco/Penn were kissing.

 

[WVsax27]

as Sciwolf said, judging from the responses no

I thought it was pretty painful, but to each their own.

 

[Jokers_Wild]

The icing on an extremely awesome cake

Yes, I'm happy for TDK's eight nominations, and that Ledger won. I've made peace with it all. That is an amazing accomplishment by itself. At the beginning, who would've ever thought Heath would be nominated and actually win. Pretty fantastic...

 

[Bim]

The Oscars were very boring I found, maybe it's cause I didn't see the movies that were nominated but it seemed like everything happened exactly as predicted.

I'm the opposite: i really enjoyed the show. In fact, i can say this was the only Oscar show that i've watched from start to finish without changing the channel. I havent seen all of the movies, but i found it quite entertaining t:

I really hope they bring Hugh back, i thought he did a great job!

 

[namtaB]

Yes, I'm happy for TDK's eight nominations, and that Ledger won. I've made peace with it all. That is an amazing accomplishment by itself. At the beginning, who would've ever thought Heath would be nominated and actually win. Pretty fantastic...

Exactly right. At the end of the day this childish nonsense about the Oscars being out of touch, a sham, Weinstein being a baddie, Slumdog undeserving, etc. is not merited. There was more whining and complaining going on here than on an episode of My Sweet 16 on MTV. Fact of the matter is the Academy did recognize and reward a great performance in TDK and this alone for a comic book derived film is amazing.

 

[scifiwolf]

There was so much more to the movie as a whole than only Ledger's performance, so, to me, saying that "Ledger winning is enough" is just settling. Now, I'm not saying it was more deserving than other movies, but I don't think any one movie was so overwhelmingly better, particularly Slumdog. The awards should have been fairly evenly distributed, not having one movie win more than every other major contender combined.

 

[Tron5000]

anyone else think that Pineapple Express short was really lame and unfunny?

Unfunny just like the actual film, which wasn't short. Matter of fact, it felt entiiiiiiiiiirely too long.

 

[WVsax27]

seems ratings weren't as bad as expected

"It was all about ABC last night, of course, with The 81st Annual Academy Awards at a very hefty (and approximate) 22.9 rating/36 share in the overnights from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Comparably, this built from the year-ago telecast (20.8/32 from 8:30-11:45 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2008) by 10 percent. And it beat the four competing networks combined by 26 percent.

Here is the half-hour breakdown:

The 81st Annual Academy Awards (ABC)

8:30 p.m.: 21.5/32
9:00 p.m.: 23.1/34
9:30 p.m.: 22.9/33
10:00 p.m.: 23.9/36
10:30 p.m.: 23.0/36
11:00 p.m.: 22.7/37
11:30 p.m.: 23.5/42

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/national-broadcast/e3i960f99882041b107d92a91605a8616fb

 

[namtaB]

seems ratings weren't as bad as expected

"It was all about ABC last night, of course, with The 81st Annual Academy Awards at a very hefty (and approximate) 22.9 rating/36 share in the overnights from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Comparably, this built from the year-ago telecast (20.8/32 from 8:30-11:45 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2008) by 10 percent. And it beat the four competing networks combined by 26 percent.

Here is the half-hour breakdown:

The 81st Annual Academy Awards (ABC)

8:30 p.m.: 21.5/32
9:00 p.m.: 23.1/34
9:30 p.m.: 22.9/33
10:00 p.m.: 23.9/36
10:30 p.m.: 23.0/36
11:00 p.m.: 22.7/37
11:30 p.m.: 23.5/42

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content...broadcast/e3i960f99882041b107d92a91605a8616fb

LOLZ well that must disappoint those who claimed the Oscars were gonna bomb this year b/c TDK wasn't nominated for Best Picture. ROFLMAO.