Oscar nominations out

[Morlock]

Oscar nominees are out. I'll add my much beloved commentarly later.

BEST PICTURE
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Lost in Translation
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Mystic River
• Seabiscuit


DIRECTOR
• Fernando Meirelles, City of God
• Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
• Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Clint Eastwood, Mystic River


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
• Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog
• Jude Law, Cold Mountain
• Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
• Sean Penn, Mystic River

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
• Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider
• Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give
• Samantha Morton, In America
• Charlize Theron, Monster
• Naomi Watts, 21 Grams

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Alec Baldwin, The Cooler
• Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams
• Djimon Hounsou, In America
• Tim Robbins, Mystic River
• Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
• Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April
• Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River
• Holly Hunter, Thirteen
• Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• The Barbarian Invasions
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Finding Nemo
• In America
• Lost in Translation


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• American Splendor
• City of God
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Mystic River
• Seabiscuit


FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
• The Barbarian Invasions
• Evil
• The Twilight Samurai
• Twin Sisters
• Želary


ANIMATED FEATURE
• Brother Bear
• Finding Nemo
• The Triplets of Belleville


ORIGINAL SCORE
• Big Fish
• Cold Mountain
• Finding Nemo
• House of Sand and Fog
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King


ORIGINAL SONG
• "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" from A Mighty Wind
• "Scarlet Tide" from Cold Mountain
• "The Triplets of Belleville" from The Triplets of Belleville
• "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from Cold Mountain


ART DIRECTION
• The Girl With a Pearl Earring
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit


CINEMATOGRAPHY
• City of God
• Cold Mountain
• Girl With a Pearl Earring
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit


COSTUME DESIGN
• Girl With a Pearl Earring
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit


MAKEUP
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Balseros
• Capturing the Friedmans
• The Fog of War
• My Architect
• The Weather Underground


SOUND
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Seabiscuit


SOUND EDITING
• Finding Nemo
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl


VISUAL EFFECTS
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl


FILM EDITING
• City of God
• Cold Mountain
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit


SHORT FILM – ANIMATED
• Boundin'
• Destino
• Gone Nutty
• Harvie Krumpet
• Nibbles


SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION
• Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket)
• Most (The Bridge)
• Squash
• (A) Torzija ([A] Torsion)
• Two Soldiers

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
• Asylum
• Chernobyl Heart
• Ferry Tales

[Tamerlane]

Hmmm, Whale Rider got a big nomination for its leading actress but nothing for Nicole Kidman Oh well to be honest I've been a tad busy seeing the world for a good month and missed out on a heck of a lot of movies. I hope Lord Of The Rings finally gets Best Picture though, but I've given up on the Oscars a long time ago. Golden Globes seem to be the only ones recognising real talent these days.

On a minor note, the animated category is a total joke. Nemo should of been nominated for best picture, and the other movies in that category are rather sad by todays standards...

[Xandax]

Heh - no nominations for LOTR in the catagories of best actor(ess).

Not that I'm really surprised, it matches good with my own oppinon of the movie (absolutely loved the movie, but the acting wasn't what I'd consider the best), but still it is a little odd, considering they are nominated in almost everything else .

[Luis Antonio]

People, just watch City of God and dispair... the best movie my country has ever done, even though violent.

'my name is not dadinho... is Zé pequeno'.... hahaha it rules... really hope it gets the statue.

And Lotr is cool. But it could be better.

[smass]

I am betting that they give Peter Jackson the director oscar and go with Mystic River for best film.

[Aegis]

This isn't the fan boy part of me talking, just so you know.

I think that LotR's should get some credit. Not so much for Best Picture, but simply for the magnatude of the project. Peter Jackson did something no one else has been able to do, in that he brought the LotR's to the screen, and with the general consensus that it was good, if not great! If the Academy doesn't recognize the LotR's, then I'll have lost all faith in the reasoning abilities of those people, not that I think they have a lot to begin with

[Morlock]

I know I'm taking up a lot of room, but it's my thread, and this is the one topic I can go on about for ages, so you'll have to endure me.

My choices are gonna be in bold. Note- choices, not predictions.

BEST PICTURE
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Lost in Translation
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Mystic River
• Seabiscuit

I'm sorta tied here. I think M&C is the best movie of 2003. But RoTK is very close, and The whole trilogy deserves the oscar. So I guess for historic significance I'd give it to RoTK, but M&C would be just as good a choice.
What the hell is Seabiscuit doing there? It is a few months old, is not oscar material- and IS NOT A GREAT MOVIE! itis a good rags to riches type sports movie, and better than the Avlidson ones, but is nowhere near the best of anything.

DIRECTOR
• Fernando Meirelles, City of God
• Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
• Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Clint Eastwood, Mystic River

Jackson's work is a huge achievment, and he deserves this more than any other award (IMO the work put in is better than the work put out).
Meirelles being nominated is one of the best and most unexpected choices they've made in a while. The movie is amazing, and giving four major nominations is testament that the acadamy is getting smarter about things.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
• Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog
• Jude Law, Cold Mountain
• Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
• Sean Penn, Mystic River

Although the three performances I've seen (Murray, Penn & Depp) are all top notch, Depp I think made the most original and refreshing character this year. Murray is a close second though.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
• Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider
• Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give
• Samantha Morton, In America
• Charlize Theron, Monster
• Naomi Watts, 21 Grams

A few big surprises here- first, out of the 10 Golden Globe nominees, only the two winners were nominated. Keaton is a surprise- as the movie is an all out comedy. Castle-Hughes also, she was very good in the movie, even though I don't think it's as amazing as people say it is. Scarlett Johanson is missing- no doubt cancelling herself out with two high profile performances.
But Theron seems unbeatable, and I suspect I'd agree with most people about the performance, but the movie isn't out yet.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Alec Baldwin, The Cooler
• Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams
• Djimon Hounsou, In America
• Tim Robbins, Mystic River
• Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai

Because the oscars are a month earlier, I havn't seen alot of the nominated films (last year I saw all but one), so I havn't seen the top three performances, which are said to be excellent.
But out of the two- Watanabe really grabbed me. He totaly stole the movie from Tom Cruise, and realyl made me feel for the whole situation.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
• Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
• Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April
• Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River
• Holly Hunter, Thirteen
• Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain

I've only seen one of the performances, and Marcia Gay Harden was not overly impressive in Mystic River.
Aghdashloo is a big surprise, as Ihavn't heard anything about her. I plan on seeing House of sand and Fog next week.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• The Barbarian Invasions
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Finding Nemo
• In America
• Lost in Translation

Most original and inspired screenplay of the year.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• American Splendor
• City of God
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Mystic River
• Seabiscuit

Everything about City of God was amazing, and it started here. MYstic River was all about performances, Seabiscuit was one corny line after another, and any way you look at it- the strength of RotK was not in it's script.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
• The Barbarian Invasions
• Evil
• The Twilight Samurai
• Twin Sisters
• Želary

I havn't seen any of them- but where the hell is Goodbye, Lenin? best foreign language film from 2003 (City of God is 2002) and wasn't even nominated (But neither was CoG)

ANIMATED FEATURE
• Brother Bear
• Finding Nemo
• The Triplets of Belleville

Easy choice. Not as good as the previous years Shrek or Spirited Away, but a very good animated movie (Not as good as people say it is though)

ORIGINAL SCORE
• Big Fish
• Cold Mountain
• Finding Nemo
• House of Sand and Fog
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

No John Williams this year, as he didn't do any movies in 2003, but Shore did a great job on RotK.
Danny Elfman's Big Fish and Thomas Newman's Finding Nemo were also good, but not much more. There were no really great film scores last year (Children of Dune was the best score this year- but that was a miniseries).

ORIGINAL SONG
• "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" from A Mighty Wind
• "Scarlet Tide" from Cold Mountain
• "The Triplets of Belleville" from The Triplets of Belleville
• "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from Cold Mountain

Here was the happiest surprise of the year- a song from a mockumentry about Folk music was nominated! A Mighty Wind was a great movie, and with really great music. Although I think the song "A Mighty Wind" was best, "A Kiss at The End of The Rainbow" is a very sweet song. I can't wait for Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara to perform it.

ART DIRECTION
• The Girl With a Pearl Earring
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit

No contest here- the samurai village was amazing.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
• City of God
• Cold Mountain
• Girl With a Pearl Earring
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit

Either one would be a great choice.

COSTUME DESIGN
• Girl With a Pearl Earring
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit

Any one of them would make a good choice. If I had to choose- Master and Commander.

MAKEUP
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

None of them were particulaly impressive makeup wise, but I loved the grittiness of M&C.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Balseros
• Capturing the Friedmans
• The Fog of War
• My Architect
• The Weather Underground

It's the only one I've seen out of them, but it would be hard to beat. Fog of War is supposedly amazing too.

SOUND
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Seabiscuit

The sound just has a bigger part than in RoTK, where there's a lot more music.

SOUND EDITING
• Finding Nemo
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Same as above.

VISUAL EFFECTS
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Impossible to beat. I'm still amazed by the lighting of the beacons scene, even after seeing the movie six times! (In theaters, no bootlegs!)

FILM EDITING
• City of God
• Cold Mountain
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
• Seabiscuit

The others were more a job of putting the pieces together, but in CoG the editing was a real part of the movie.


All in all- I think they are improving.
This year took the best films from a mediocre year, as opposed to last year where the picked the merely good films from a fantastic year.

[Kayless]

Go Rings! I just wish Andy Serkis would get nominated for once. No props for Gollum.

[HighLordDave]

In the same way that some acting Oscars are given out as lifetime achievement awards, I believe, Return of the King will sweep the awards if not run the table in every category in which it was nominated. I think both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were intentionally snubbed by voters the last two years with the intention of giving it to Jackson et al in the final year of the trilogy.

[VoodooDali]

The cynical side of Voo:
Can anyone tell me why I should care about the Oscars?

[Morlock]

Quote:

Originally posted by HighLordDave I think both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were intentionally snubbed by voters the last two years with the intention of giving it to Jackson et al in the final year of the trilogy.

I think neither deserved to win.

[boo's daddy]

Quote:

Originally posted by VoodooDali The cynical side of Voo: Can anyone tell me why I should care about the Oscars?

The only reason I can think of is "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". The accompanying wall-to-wall celebrity worship will either drive you to futsie or to have an opinion. It's probably safer to take the latter option

If ROTK wins anything other than techy prizes. The editing and direction were appalling.

[Georgi]

Quote:

Originally posted by HighLordDave In the same way that some acting Oscars are given out as lifetime achievement awards, I believe, Return of the King will sweep the awards if not run the table in every category in which it was nominated. I think both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were intentionally snubbed by voters the last two years with the intention of giving it to Jackson et al in the final year of the trilogy.

What he said.

At least with regards to best film and director. I actually have mixed feelings about it, because although I love the movies, IMO RotK was the weakest of the three. But the Academy were never going to give them best movie three years running, and if only one of them is going to win, it makes sense that it is the last one, marking the achievement of the trilogy as a whole.

No, I'm not done yet, but I don't have time for my full rundown at the moment.

[monggo]

has anyone seen any of the foreighn or short movies
imo they usually suck but evil (onskan on swedish) only sucks a little so i thimk it should win

[Rob-hin]

Why are there so many oscar catagories?
I mean, with a little effort, I could win one!