Best Original Score
FINDING NEVERLAND
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE VILLAGE

Where the hell is SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW??

Oh, and is anyone up for the Yahoo! Oscar pick'ums whenever they put um up?

from me. doesn't deserve any of them, as far as i'm concerned.

The director of FN not being nominated pretty much means it doesn't have a chance of winning. Too bad. My favorite film of the year. Hopefully it'll win for best score. It certainly restored my faith in composers.

to Don Cheadle finally getting his props.
to Giamatti never getting his

I hope Scorsese wins for Director, but it'll be more of a lifetime achievement award than for The Aviator, which was a middling film for him.

to Before Sunset getting a screenplay nod, but for adapted? Wasn't it an original screenplay?

Out of all those movies nominated, I've only seen:
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
THE INCREDIBLES
LEMONY SNICKET
HARRY POTTER
THE VILLAGE
SPIDER-MAN 2
and none of those made the Best Picture nom.

bad movie year for me I suppose....

This is one of those like a couple of years ago when John Voight got a nom for playing Howard Cosell for like 5 minutes in Ali. Both were fine performances, but not a lot there. David Carradine MADE Kill Bill 2. I'll never look at Clacrk Kent the same way again.

As far as Jamie Foxx in that catagory, his performance in Collateral was very good, BUT... How on earth is it a supporting performance? The movie is about a cab driver who picks up a hitman, not a movie about a hit man. Who is he supporting? Since when does second-billed mean supporting? When you think about it, he has probably double or triple the screen time of Best Actress nominee Kate Winslet.

Decker: you're right about Collateral. Jamie Fox has more screen time than anyone in the film. His character is the lead role, Cruise would have been the supporting actor.

How come Some Kind of Monster wasn't nominated?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Decker
To Paul Giamanni being snubbed. He was the heart and soul of the film nominated for Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Suppoting Actress, etc. He really deserved at least a nom.

If you go back to 1989, the winner for best picture was Driving Miss Daisy,

but the director, Bruce Beresford was not even nominated.

They didn't do them last year, so I'm not holding my breath.

The Academy has a rule that a certain number of films in the catagory has to be released. For animation released for the year was:

Shrek 2
The Polar Express
The Incredibles
Shark Tale
Home on the Range
Teacher's Pet

Spongebob Squarepaints The Movie is not eligible because it's not all animated.

If you go back to 2001, only three animated films were nominated: Shrek, Monster's Inc. and Jimmy Neutron. Since there wasn't alot of animation released that year, only three get picked. Jimmy Neutron had received more votes than The Waking Life.

Just like in 1988, only three songs were nominated because there wasn't that many new ones. The Golden Globes nominated 5 songs, but their rules aren't as stricked.

I agree wholeheartedly. Sideways is this year's "emporer's new clothes," not to mention god awful. I'm going to hope Finding Neverland pulls an upset, a la Shakespeare in Love (vs. more serious fare, such as Saving Private Ryan). It is by far the best movie this year. I just wish Kate was nominated for her role in it, along with the young Peter.

Maria was mostly an American production (HBO Films, Santa Fe Prods, & Journeyman all contributed) with an American writer/director. There was a Colombian production company involved, Tucán Prods. but with all the American money, this may have been simply inelligible for Best Foreign.

Here's What I'm Happy About:
The Passion of the Christ's nominations for Cinematography, Score, and Makeup. I was afraid that a certain, um, group of people would do everything to keep it from getting nominated.

Here's What Pissed Me Off:
The screenplay omissions of Kinsey and Closer.
NO DAVID CARRADINE!!!!!!!!!!
NO PETER SARSGAARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jamie Foxx and Alan Alda's nominations. Those were Carradine's and Sarsgaard's nominations!
Hell, Robert Forster got nomianted for Jackie Brown. Why didn't David Carradine?
No HoFD for Foreign Langauge Film
The omissions of Vanity Fair and Phantom of the Opera in Costume Design.
Troy and Finding Neverland's Costume Design nominations.
No Motorcycle Diaries score nomination. If I was them, I would've dumped The Village and Lemony Snicket and given the nods to Motorcycle and A Very Long Engagement.

In order for a film to be elegible for Best Foreign Language Picture, it must be the official enterant of it's country of origin. It's director and producers must be from that country as well. This is why Il Postino was inelegible for best foreign language film even though it got a best picture nod. It had an Englishman as its director.

My god, I can't believe the amount of love here for that overly manipulative, by-the-number period dreck called Finding Neverland. It is so corny that a year's cheese could be extracted just from its cliches.

Personally, it was my favorite movie I've seen this year and I've seen 3 of the 5 best picture nominees. But what do i know, i'm sure i'm the anti-christ for not liking Sideways.

I'm not sure where to start about how utterly wrong you are. Where in the world did you get your misinformation?!

The ACTUALl ist:

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressrel.../04.11.04.html

Eleven Films to Compete for Animated Feature Oscar®

The eligible films are:

"Clifford’s Really Big Movie"
"Disney’s Teacher’s Pet"
"Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence"
"Home on the Range"
"The Incredibles"
"The Legend of Buddha"
"The Polar Express"
"Shrek 2"
"Shark Tale"
"Sky Blue"
"The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie"

Hmm… out of all of the movies nominated for the major awards, I’ve only seen two of them: Collateral and Maria Full of Grace (which I just saw yesterday). I guess my excuse is that most of these movies were released late in the year and haven’t made it to DVD yet, I think I saw a movie in the theater once last year.

By the way, Maria Full of Grace is a very good movie. When you watch it, note the overweight guy who helps take care of the dead mules' bodies. That character is real, that is what that guy (the overweight guy) does in real life in New York.

As for “The Sea Inside” by Alejandro Amenábar, I really like him as a director so this is on my “must-see” list, especially with Javier Bardem as the lead actor (who also played a paralyzed guy in “Live Flesh”, a film directed by Pedro Almodóvar). Remember that Amenábar did “Open Your Eyes” and the English language movie “The Others”.

So… was Maria Full of Grace actually eligible to be nominated for Best Foreign Picture or not? If it was eligible by Colombia but they nominated something else, then I can see this as being a reprise of a year or two ago when “Mondays in the Sun” (also starring Javier Bardem) was nominated by Spain instead of Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her”. I saw both movies, Mondays in the Sun was good, but I personally considered Talk to Her to be a much better movie.

By the way, was "The Others" eligible to be nominated for Best Foreign Picture back when it was released? Wasn't it made in Spain with Spanish money, Spanish everything but the actors? (it was an English language film of course)

I remember there was one poster who was very...enthusiastic...about The Others and insistant that it should be nominated for best foreign film etc etc. However, the thread in question spiraled downward from there and I don't think the question of whether it was eligible was ever resolved.

No, THE OTHERS was a Cruise/Wagner production. Ie., her ex-husband. As a co-production with a US company, it doesn't qualify for "foreign" either.

I was hoping Javier Bardem or Paul Giammatti would have gotten a best actor nomination over Clint. I think Clint is overrated. Also Peter Sarsgaard should have been nominated over Alan Alda. He didn't deserve that nomination.

Perhaps Kevin Bacon's performance in The Woodsman was not pushed well enough. Also, the character's past is of a disturbing nature - perhaps that didn't sit well with voters.Are you sure? It's been explained to me by several people that motion capture isn't animation in the eyes of the voters. I could very well be wrong. Do you have a link to the correct information?He's black. See also Pulp Fiction.
That, or Dreamworks thought he had a better chot of a supporting actor win, so they pushed him for that. See also The Hours.
... just because a lot of people see a film doesn't mean its the most popular. There had to be a lot of people who saw any of those films and said "well, that sucked". Also, a lot of kids saw those films... how many of them vote in the people's choice awards?

It is funny that someone who didn't want Fahrenheit to win is disputing the People's Choice Award; after all, it was a fair election by the people, right?

What has this got to do with the oscars?

my picks, my thoughts...

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jamie Foxx - RAY
Foxx was so convincingly immersed in his character that I wasn't seeing the actor or performance.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
I felt Church was the only one in this category that didn't rely on some kind of actor's schtick, surprising for a comedian. the exception being Foxx in Collateral, but i still prefer Church here.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
again, i go for the most convincing. here Staunton easily eclipses the others for a truthful performance that avoided melodrama. she should also be credited for helping Leigh create the character thru improvisation sessions.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
even if the performance was a little too on the nose, it was an extraordinary achievement that avoided caricature.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
THE INCREDIBLES
no contest, IMO.

ART DIRECTION
THE AVIATOR
it was subtle, but i picked up on how the use of color was informing scene. most obvious was the use of green when Hughes had bouts of OCD. i liked that.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE AVIATOR
mimmicking the film stocks of the era was a bold move that should be rewarded. very few are risktakers in this field. Ideally, I would have liked to see Tim Orr for UNDERTOW or Gallo for BROWN BUNNY in this category.

COSTUME DESIGN
THE AVIATOR
i felt the cast's wardrobe was best integrated in this film.

DIRECTING
VERA DRAKE
Mike Leigh built this film from the ground up by leading a collaboration of talent in the making of the most human drama of the year.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL
although, i happen to enjoy F 9/11, i'm glad to see that better docs are nominated here. Camel being the only one that was able to capture a... how do i word this... a "spiritual" dimension that the others lacked.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
I havent seen any of these

FILM EDITING
THE AVIATOR
to keep a three hour film as involving as they did, the pacing had to be spot on. best of all, the editing was largely invisible, but with the occasional flourish to give it a signatiure.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
only saw THE SEA INSIDE, liked it, but I cant be objective.

MAKEUP
I don't know, would have liked to se SHAUN OF THE DEAD here.

MUSIC (SCORE)
none of these scores were particularly good, IMO.

MUSIC (SONG)
"Al Otro Lado Del Río" - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
music is a hard category. i usually eliminate songs that weren't incorporated into the body of the film. and from the remainder i chjoose the one that spoke to me in some way.

BEST PICTURE
THE AVIATOR
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
SIDEWAYS
i liked all three for different reasons and am probably leaning toward SIDEWAYS. although my favorite film of the year, VERA DRAKE wasnt nominated.

SOUND EDITING
THE INCREDIBLES
the choices made in the use of fx and music cues made more of an impact on me here than with the others.

SOUND MIXING
SPIDER-MAN 2
its hard to remember but the balance between dialogue, fx and music made the most impact on me here.

VISUAL EFFECTS
SPIDER-MAN 2
maybe not the most realistic, but they were the most visceral and the most fun.

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
BEFORE SUNSET
i always applaud and like to reward the sort of collaboration that produced this film. and to keep it from becoming dull or high-minded is an acheivement in its own right.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
VERA DRAKE
certainly not a screenplay in its most conventional sense, but the method of creating the characters and story resulted in the most truthful, most convincing and most touching of the five contenders.

I don't think SM2 was ever a contender for a BP nom. As for visuals SM2 is the popular choice, but I, Robot was way more impressive visually. Proyas's visuals and futuristic world has my vote by a longshot. He needs to make more movies.

Shame on the Eternal Sunshine snub.