PAD will be back this evening and probably will be blogging shortly after the Oscars.
How many of you have seen all the movies nominated for best film? How many live in a city that is showing all of them? Out on Long Island you have to go a fer piece to see “The Pianist” or “The Quiet American”.
The race I have the most interest in and have seen all the nominations is best Animated Film.
The nominees are
Ice Age
Lilo & Stitch
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirited Away
Treasure Planet
This is a tough call. I loved the animation and direction to both Lilo & Stich and Spirited Away. I enjoyed Ice Age quite a bit but the animation did not knock my socks off. Treasure Planet…..well it’s watchable. I much prefer Muppet Treasure Island. Spirit for me had a straight to video feel.
I think Lilo and Stich should get it but think Spirited Away will get it.
What do you think?
Kathleen
• 
hmm..Moore gave the same speech at the Independent Spirt Awards earlier this weekend. It was uniformaly applauded.
Knowing that he was going to win (which was pretty much a given) and what he’d say, don’t be so sure that the boos you heard on TV were what was heard live. There are many obvious reasons why the producers might want to spin things a certain way. There’s a looming Hollywood blacklist on the horizon. People who are being critical of the current administration are being declared un-American, un patriotic.
For those of you who failed Civics 101, the most patriotic, American thing you can do is stand up and express your beliefs and opinions. The country was founded on the right to speak against the government.
As for Polanski…While I’m glad it wasn’t given to Scorcesee…I was rather turned off by the Standing Ovation given to him. I mean, it’s not like he was forced into exile over politcal matters or something vaguely noble…
As for the Oscars, I only saw Chubb Chubbs and Mike’s New Car, but Chubb Chubbs was way funnier, so I’m glad it won.
I can say with some civic pride that all five Best Picture nominees are currently playing in Tampa ( or: ‘the Tampa Bay area’, as I’ll have to drive across the bridge to St. Petersburg to see ‘The Hours’ ) !! I’ve seen ‘Chicago’, ‘…Two Towers’, and ‘The Pianist’. And even though they didn’t win, I still plan to see ‘Gangs Of New York’ ( “Whoopsie daisy!!” ) and ‘The Hours’, either later today or tomorrow.
When I saw ‘The Pianist’ yesterday afternoon, I made the mental note that Adrien Brody just HAD to win Best Actor.
Ten years ago, I could say I had seen all of Roman Polanski’s films, including early ones like: ‘The Fearless Vampire Killers’ and ‘Knife In The Water’. I missed his last one ( before ‘…Pianist’, of course ), maybe two. But ‘The Pianist’ blew me away and ran me through the wringer.
I am by NO means crazy about the fact that the country’s at war. But watching the atrocities committed during ‘The Pianist’, I said to myself: this is why we’re over there. The fact is, there are people in this world who are just plain _evil_! I’m going to paraphrase the stew out of this saying, I know, but: the one sure way to perpetuate evil is for good people to do nothing. I am certain that when the war is over, ex-Iraqi inner circle-types will show us stuff that will cause our collective jaw to drop, Tex Avery-style!!
Michael Moore says something against Bush, and he is boo’ed off the stage of an awards show. Saddam’s Iraqi Advisor questions Hussein’s methods, and the man is taken out into the hall, and a bullet is put in his brain. Or: he is sent back to the wife who begged for his return to her. In a plastic bag. In pieces. Two versions of the same true story, but the outcome is the same.
Like it or not, American troops are over there now. I hope and pray that the resolution is quick, complete, and our soldiers come home soon and safe.
I like Michael Moore’s films. I admire his chutzpah. His sense of humor makes me laugh out loud. But I realise that his point-of-view is one-sided, and I think his socialistic politics are naiive and irresponsible ay best.
I saw ‘Bowling For Columbine’, loved it for what it was, and am glad it won Best Documentary. However, I thought Moore’s acceptance speech was shrill, desperate and grasping, and wholly inappropriate, considering the Oscar telecast was being beamed to troops overseas!!!
I digressed.
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, I haven’t seen ‘Treasure Planet’ on “the big screen” yet!! Unbelievable to me, as the last time I missed a Disney movie in the theatres was when I came down with Hepatitis-A on the opening weekend of ‘The Fox And The Hound’ ( But I got better! ) !!! I LOVED ‘Spirited Away’!! I LOVED ‘Lilo & Stitch’!! I LIKED ‘Ice Age’ a whole freakin’ lot! I didn’t see ‘Spirit…’, primarily because it looked just too cutesy kid-vid to me. Plus, I grit my teeth when I think of my money going into Jeffrey Katzenburg’s coffers. Maybe it’s because of my life-long love of Disney. Maybe it’s because when I was living in L.A., and Katzenburg was still with Disney, he once tried to pull rank and screamed at me for just doing my job! Hmmmm.
I’m usually no big fan of either Japanese animation , OR CG. I descibe the former with the words: “flicker, flicker, flicker / twitch, twitch, twitch”, and the latter with: “`looks good…moves like šhìŧ“.
That said, I’m glad ‘Spirited Away’ won!!
But that CG Mickey Mouse last night was just skeevy and WRONG!!!
Our local art-house, the eye-poppingly beautiful Tampa Theatre, ran all the nominated animated shorts on one program! But it was just for one weekend, and I missed it.
Well, that’s my three cents anyway.
Welcome back, Peter.
How about that ‘Farscape’ finale, huh??
Hooper
Regardless of the booing, regardless of the message of his film, regardless of any amount of editing….
There are some idiots who can’t seperate different (but related) topics, just because they are related.
Moore did not deserve that dámņ award because he is not a documentarian. “Bowling For Columbine” was not a documentary. Regardless of the message, the article proved that the documentary was full of lies and half-truths.
Actual documentaries don’t use lies of omission and clever editing of others’ statements to create events that never occurred.
He got an award for something that doesn’t belong in the category. It’s like giving George Lucas best supporting actress for Star Wars.
And Lugi: naturally if half of the liberals will not read the article, half will. I compliment you for being part of the right half (pun intended; sorry).
This is not oscar related, but an interesting development: William Goldman, author of “The Princess Bride” and “Marathon Man” among others, has been hired to write the screenplay for a feature film based on the old DC character “Shazam.” Heres a link for a little more info (I hope that it picks up the whole thing, otherwise you might need to copy and paste the whole thing, its kinda long):
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270338&obj_id=38078
Chris
Oh, I forgot this minor detail: “Shazam” is also called Captain Marvel. 😉
Chris
The Blue Spider said: “There are some idiots who can’t seperate different (but related) topics, just because they are related.”
You mean like support for the troops and support for the people who send them off to die?
Scavenger said:
For those of you who failed Civics 101, the most patriotic, American thing you can do is stand up and express your beliefs and opinions. The country was founded on the right to speak against the government.
You know, I’ve been seeing this said a lot lately, and I couldn’t put my finger on why it bugged me so much until last night. By this definition, the KKK are patriots. By this definition, NAMBLA are patriots. By this definition, Tim McVeigh was a patriot. Hëll, Roman Polanski is a patriot too. Now, people who say anti-war demonstrators aren’t patriotic are being far too simplistic, but anti-war demonstrators who claim to be patriotic by virtue of being anti-war demonstrators, that doesn’t hold any water either.
just a couple points from a resident entertainment guru. the number of animated films nominated depends on the number submitted for consideration. last year there were, i believe, 12 submitted, thus the three nominees. this year, there were seventeen, and the rules allow for five.
as far as moore, the thing that bugged me most of all, was that his act, classy even, of bringing the other nominees up on stage, was marred by his speech. what could have been a great moment was tainted. backstage he was able to be eloquent and critical without being bombastic. likely because there were fewer cameras. still, it would’ve been nice if he used the moment more appropriately.
on polanski – i think it’s possible to respect the art and not the artist, and i think there are degrees. yes, it is morally reprehensible what he did. but it’s not fair to equate one horrific act, which he made under the influence of drugs a couple decades ago, with one of the most evil men in history who murdered hundreds of thousands.
i saw the pianist. it was a brilliant and gut wrenching movie. it was certainly well-directed. i myself would not have voted for it because i felt it was tainted with his history, but that doesn’t mean everyone else has to agree with me. i think if other voters chose to overlook that, and they obviously did, that is their right. but strictly based on the movie itself, it was certainly deserving.
Y’know… The thing I found interesting was that the cameras didn’t turn to focus on those boo’ing Moore. Or cheering him for that matter. They put cameras on the audience all night, but never showed us who was cheering nor who was boo’ing.
Harrison Ford did seem to be amused…
Several actors appeared uncomfortable…
Here’s another anti-Bowling For Columbine screed for those who are interested:
http://www.cwob.com/movies/oscars2003/bfc.html
And in this corner, Michael Moore (via Roger Ebert’s ‘Movie Answer Man’ column):
http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert231.htm
Pretty interesting stuff.
As for Moore’s speech, it certainly livened up the telecast, but the sharp satirical wit that can be found in his book, Stupid White Men, doesn’t work quite as well in harangue form.
-Dave
Thanks for spoiling it, Julio. I really would’ve liked to hear what other people said who didn’t figure that out.
As far as Moore is concerned, I have no problem with his view, or even his screaming his view from the highest mountaintop. But you don’t go to a PRIVATE function to which you are invited, a function expressly held for one specific purpose, and start screaming a diatribe about an entirely OTHER subject. By the same token, Moore spouting off the way he did was simply in poor taste, and ugly.
On a lighter note, I really enjoyed these two quips from tonight’s episode of The Tonight Show:
Jay Leno: “Last night, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore SHOCKED everyone….by wearing a suit! Who knew he had something other than that baseball cap?”
Wanda Sykes: “Man, Martin Scorcese must’ve been thinking, ‘Who do you have to rape in this town to win an Oscar?”
Spirited Away! All the Way!! Just had to say it. Loved that movie.
You know, I’ve been seeing this said a lot lately, and I couldn’t put my finger on why it bugged me so much until last night. By this definition, the KKK are patriots. By this definition, NAMBLA are patriots. By this definition, Tim McVeigh was a patriot. Hëll, Roman Polanski is a patriot too. Now, people who say anti-war demonstrators aren’t patriotic are being far too simplistic, but anti-war demonstrators who claim to be patriotic by virtue of being anti-war demonstrators, that doesn’t hold any water either.
The KKK is rather patriotic. They’re patriotism taken to the extreeme, and they voted for Bush.
As for the others, if you’re equating speaking out and protesting the goverment’s actions with advocating having sex with underage boys or blowing up buildings, then there’s no point in you joining in on debates and discussions.
Scavenger (rather rudely) said:
**The KKK is rather patriotic. They’re patriotism taken to the extreeme, and they voted for Bush.
As for the others, if you’re equating speaking out and protesting the goverment’s actions with advocating having sex with underage boys or blowing up buildings, then there’s no point in you joining in on debates and discussions. **
And NAMBLA voted for Gore. So what?
Actually, no, I said that YOU equated child molesters and racists with anti-war protesters in the same group by saying that speaking up and stating your opinions equates to patriotism. And I can understand why you don’t want to back that up.
Lilo and Stich was a funny movie, one of the best Disney animated films I’ve seen in a long time, but Spirited Away, I think, blows away everything Disney has EVER done.
I wholeheartedly concur. I actually cheered when they opened the envelope and said Miyazaki’s name. It was an infinitely superior film to the others in its catagory, and better than a couple nominated for Best Film.
Does every bunch of comments on here have to turn in to nasty political rhetoric? sigh
Anyway…
Luigi:
Well, considering the “Adolph Hitler” signature visible in each of the images you linked…
If buying his frickin’ art would have kept the psychotic son-of-a-bìŧçh in oil paints and out of governance, then hëll yes, I would have bought his art. But not now. ‘Cause, wow, I’m not an effin’ Nazi and, more importantly, the work’s pedestrian. There’s a reason he went into politics. He wasn’t that good an artist!