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Poll: Favorite Multiple Oscar Nominee Who Has Never Won A Competitive Award?
Some of these people are dead and will never get themselves a competitive award. A few of them are getting kind of old and time is ticking and a few of them have plenty of time to go, but quite a large number of nominations with no win. Although, with all of these people winning or not winning an Oscar doesn’t really matter. They’re all remarkable in their fields and have had stellar careers. Oscar would really just be a cherry on top.
Poll after the cut.
Oscar Vault Monday – Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981 (dir. Steven Spielberg)
I love Raiders of the Lost Ark so much. It’s been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I can’t think of a better adventure story and I do believe Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas and Philip Kaufman created something close to perfect with the character of Indiana Jones. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score John Williams and won four – Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It also received a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing. It was up against Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Reds and winner Chariots of Fire. Of those, I’ve only seen Chariots of Fire and I must say it is one of the most boring movies I’ve ever seen. It really disappointed me. This was another one of those years were the “art” movie won over the popular movie. The thing is, half the time that happens I agree withe the Academy’s decision and half the time I disagree wholeheartedly. This is one of those times where I disagree.
Oscar Vault Monday – Sunset Blvd. 1950 (dir. Billy Wilder)
When I first netflixed this film I watched it three times before sending it back – twice back-to-back and then a third time the next morning. I was completely blown away with how wonderful it was, from start to finish. I know a lot of people consider Some Like It Hot to be Billy Wilder’s best film and as much as I like that one, I have to disagree and go with Sunset Blvd. It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning three for black-and-white Art Direction, Best Writing – story and screenplay and Best Score. For Best Picture it was up against Father of the Bride, King Solomon’s Mines, Born Yesterday and lost to All About Eve. All About Eve wound up winning six Oscars in all. Another tight race that year was Best Actress, Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. was up against Bette Davis and Anne Baxter in All About Eve, but all three lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday. Having watched all three of those films within a few days of each other it is my belief that, although Holliday’s performance was stunning, the other three women spilt the vote so severely that Holliday won by default. I’ll say it up front, I enjoyed All About Eve, but I deeply love Sunset Blvd. and think it is by and far the greater of the two films.
Beware: there be spoilers after the cut.
The Academy Invites 135 New Members
Being a member of the Academy allows you to vote for nominees and on the nominees once they are announced. Some of the names on this list are pretty interesting, in that one would think they’d already be members!
Full list after the cut.
Oscars potentially moving to January?
This news won’t change the date for the 83rd ceremony, which has its date firmly set for February 27th, 2011. Organizers say the earliest it would happen would be for the 2012 ceremony.
Sasha over at AwardsDaily has a pretty great post, pretty much explaining that all this would do would create a shift in all of the precursors and not do anything to fix “awards season fatigue.” I also like what she said about how if the Academy really wants to get more viewers they should think about adding a people’s choice awards, a la the Orange Rising Star Award that the BAFTAs have. If American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, etc has taught us anything it’s that American’s like to vote on pop culture related things.
What really irks me about this move is that for people who don’t live in Los Angeles, or any city for that matter, this has the potential of making it even harder to watch all the movies that will be up for Oscar before the actual ceremony. I was barely able to do it when I lived in San Francisco, let alone now that I live in the middle of nowhere.
What do you guys think about this potential move in the date?
Site Update
Inspired by AwardsDaily, I’ve added a list of contenders to the sidebar of the site. I’ll keep it updated as buzz changes/films are released, etc.
Oscar Vault Monday – Chinatown, 1974 (dir. Roman Polanski)
This is one of those films that’s often imitated but never duplicated (even with the ill-conceived 1990 sequel). It was directed by Roman Polanksi, who at the time was one of Hollywood’s hottest up and coming directors; was written by Robert Towne, who at the time was mostly known for some uncredited work on Bonnie & Clyde and The Godfather; and stared two of the most acclaimed young actors of their generation: Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only Robert Towne walked away a winner for his screenplay. It lost Best Picture to The Godfather Part II which is, perhaps, the most acclaimed sequel of all time.
Oscar Vault Monday – The Thin Red Line, 1998 (dir. Terrence Malick)
Malick was one of the most acclaimed directors in the 1970s, with two highly acclaimed dramas – 1973’s Badlands and 1978’s Days of Heaven. He then disappeared for nearly twenty years before production of The Thin Red Line started. The result is an astounding WWII ensemble based on the novel of the same name by James Jones (who’s other book, From Here To Eternity was turned into a film in 1953 and won 8 Oscars). There is a version of The Thin Red Line from 1964 that I’m told is more true to the book; I’ve yet to see it. I also don’t really care if it’s more true to the book because I love what Malick did with this story. This film is one of my Top Ten Films of All Time. It was nominated for 7 Oscars in 1998 although it didn’t win a single award. It was up against Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare In Love, Elizabeth and Life Is Beautiful.
1967: The Year Cinema Changed Forever
I know there is at least one book on this subject and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but thanks to TCM showing several movies from that year, I have to agree completely. What I mean by Cinema, is Hollywood and American Cinema, because a lot of how it changed was based on things French New Wave directors had already been doing for almost ten years.
One way to see this change is by looking at the five films that were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars that year. Four of the films are harbingers of the new Hollywood. One is old guard and because of that in addition I want to talk about another film that, although nominated for four Oscars, was not up for Best Picture.
The five films up for Best Picture were Bonnie & Clyde, Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner and In The Heat of the Night. The film sixth film I’m going to discuss is In Cold Blood.
Oscar Vault Monday – L.A. Confidential, 1997 (dir. Curtis Hanson)
This film is one of the all-time great ensembles out there. It features stellar performances from so many great actors. It also is so wonderfully stylized, from the costumes to the sets to Jerry Goldsmith’s phenomenal score. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards in 1997. Although it lost Best Picture to Titanic, Kim Basinger walked away with the Best Supporting Actress award as did the Adapted Screenplay by Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson.
the diary of a film history fanatic 