The Oscar Buzz Thread! (Oscar Nominees Announced!)

[TiQuinn]

Coppola will win an Oscar, but not for best director. She'll get one for best original screenplay.

Yep, I forgot she was nominated for that. I figured one or the other, Coppola would be up there on stage, and I thought maybe at Jackson's expense. But you're right, she'll probably win for screenplay.

All in all, I don't see any upsets, really. I think it's going to mirror the Globes.

 

[WizarDru]

Hollow Man and The Phantom Menace still got nominated. Excluding Matrix Revolutions while giving the nod to Master and Commander is just silly. Not that it matters since ROTK beats them all by a long shot and will obviously take the gold statue, but still, M:R at least deserved a nomination.

Just Silly? Why so? Maybe you should pick up the lastest issue of Cinefex, and see why it isn't. Master and Commander is a hugely-effects laden film. The fact that you think it isn't probably shows how good the effects actually were. When you consider that it's a film that takes place almost entirely on a ship at sea, and they only filmed about a handful of shots actually on water...that's quite an accomplishment. In fact, they asked for Weta's help, when they saw what they'd accomplished with 'bigatures' on Fellowship.

The Matrix 2/3 had some great digital work...but it wasn't terribly ground-breaking or outstanding, per se. There was just a high volume of it. There's more to f/x than just lots of blue-screen and green-screen shots. I suspect the academy is starting to view CGI-based effects as, well, lazy. Matrix 2 and 3 also had some very transparently CGI effects, that were very clearly effects and not actors...and was criticised by some for it.

 

[WizarDru]

Wow, these noms are huge news for LOTR.
Cold Mountain's lack of a nom for best picture is a massive blow to Miramax. Those bastards flooded the radio airwaves with ads for that movie so much I suspect it sickened the academy members into not voting for it. That's sad for the makers of the film, and a fine film it is. But it does send a good message - stop trying to buy nominations.

Personally, I suspect that it's being snubbed because of Miramax's hubris. it's commonly believed that "Shakespeare in Love"'s win was owed primarily to Miramax's very agressive marketing of the film to academy members, and Miramax announced it would be doing a blitzkreig of marketing for Cold Mountain. I think that resulted in a backlash for the movie and for Miramax in general. I've seen that very accusation on these boards recently, and I think it may convinve Miramax to cool their jets for a while.


What I find more interesting is how many films expected oscar nods...nay, were depending on them, so that they could improve their fortunes. Normally, a film that makes $83 million at the box office wouldn't be a failure...unless it cost $140 million. Many of the films that didn't get nominated for the big categories, like Big Fish, were depending on that buzz to improve ticket sales. Hollywood needs to rethink that process, along with the whole marketing of blockbusters that they've been doing for the last few years, IMHO.

 

[Mark]

The fact that you think it isn't probably shows how good the effects actually were. When you consider that it's a film that takes place almost entirely on a ship at sea, and they only filmed about a handful of shots actually on water...that's quite an accomplishment.

I'm surprised that I haven't seen it compared (and contrasted) technology-wise to A Perfect Storm anywhere but I don't get the trades. Have you seen such discussion?

 

[Ghostwind]

My wife read somewhere that the filmakers used the same equipment and setup for Master and Commander that had been for Perfect Storm -- hence the similarities.

 

[WizarDru]

I'm surprised that I haven't seen it compared (and contrasted) technology-wise to A Perfect Storm anywhere but I don't get the trades. Have you seen such discussion?

I think it was discussed briefly in the Cinefex article (which runs thirty or so pages), but I'll admit I skimmed it. I was there for the 120 pages of Return of the King coverage (and it's outstanding, if you're interested in hearing that sort of thing). They used the same water tank/shooting stage that they used in the Perfect Storm, I believe...located in Mexico. Consequently, they used many of the same techniques for filming some of the storm sequences...but the effects went considerably beyond that.

They apparently saw Fellowship, and then called Weta and asked for help, as they realized that the bigature approach would yield better results than just using CGI compositing the whole time. They couldn't afford to go the Galapagos islands, so they used CGI effects like Weta did for the Pellenor fields to make the Galapagos islands appear in a mexican desert. They used variable size models for some of the ship-to-ship battles, and digital composoting like LotR to make it appear that the ship was at sea, when they did very few location shots for it.

I am suprised that no one's really made that comparison...but I assume it's more due to the thematic differences than the technological ones.

 

[John Crichton]

I think it was discussed briefly in the Cinefex article (which runs thirty or so pages), but I'll admit I skimmed it. I was there for the 120 pages of Return of the King coverage (and it's outstanding, if you're interested in hearing that sort of thing). They used the same water tank/shooting stage that they used in the Perfect Storm, I believe...located in Mexico. Consequently, they used many of the same techniques for filming some of the storm sequences...but the effects went considerably beyond that.

Wasn't that the same tank they used in Titanic?

They apparently saw Fellowship, and then called Weta and asked for help, as they realized that the bigature approach would yield better results than just using CGI compositing the whole time. They couldn't afford to go the Galapagos islands, so they used CGI effects like Weta did for the Pellenor fields to make the Galapagos islands appear in a mexican desert. They used variable size models for some of the ship-to-ship battles, and digital composoting like LotR to make it appear that the ship was at sea, when they did very few location shots for it.

I am suprised that no one's really made that comparison...but I assume it's more due to the thematic differences than the technological ones.

I did know about the FX in M&C and certainly thought it deserved a nomination. I also agree with your above assessment of Matrix 2/3 concerning the visuals. I wasn't blown away by the FX in either film, especially 2. Matrix 3 was a bit better, so I'm thinking that if the nomination were limited to 3 films then the Academy got the correct 3 films. If it wasn't limited to 3 then a case could be made for Revolutions to be nominated. But not over any of the other 3.

 

[Kai Lord]

Just Silly? Why so?

Because digital naval ship extensions and water compositing was pioneered in 1997 and polished nicely in 2000.

No one had ever pulled off a live action mecha battle or a Dragonball Z fight convincingly before Matrix: Revolutions, and M:R did both in the same film.

I suspect the academy is starting to view CGI-based effects as, well, lazy.

Which is contradicted by the Oscar recognition WETA's Gollum and MASSIVE digital battles have received and will receive.

 

[John Crichton]

Because digital naval ship extensions and water compositing was pioneered in 1997 and polished nicely in 2000.

No one had ever pulled off a live action mecha battle or a Dragonball Z fight convincingly before Matrix: Revolutions, and M:R did both in the same film.

I would contend that the Academy doesn't care about the distinction between "mechs" and "robots." Hence, Attack of the Clones did it first (large robot battle that is). But that aside, I loved the hanger stuff and was truly impressed by it. That is the most obvious part of the film that would convince me to put it in the running for visuals. There were other scenes that workes as well, but that stuff was more subtle and non-action oriented like the train station and the approach to the Machine City.

As for the "Dragonball Z" fight, it wasn't my favorite part of the film (that would be the tunnel chase/hanger battle) nor do I think it should receive any accolades. It wasn't all that impressive and it has been done before (although in a much shorter sequence) in Clones, with the Yoda fight. The over-the-top action with lots of water effects just doesn't scream "give me an award." The martial arts fights in the original Matrix were more impressive, to me. Those were worth awards.

Overall, the parts that didn't work (for me) don't matter - there were enough impressive visuals in Revolutions to give it a nomination (but as said before, not over the 3 chosen). I wouldn't have voted for it to win, not with Return of the King in the mix, but it could have easily been in there.

 

[KenM]

Miramax must be feeling pretty good right about now. They were the studio that gave up on PJ's LotR films before New Line decided to go with it.