Film Awards season has begun...

[CMJ]

The first of many groups to hand out awards went today. The National Board of Review. Typically the film that wins is nominated come Oscar time - and among there 10 best list usually 3 or more films end up being nominated by the Academy.

Here we are:

Awards for 2003:

Best Film
Mystic River

Top Ten Films
Mystic River, The Last Samurai, The Station Agent, 21 Grams, House of Sand and Fog, Lost in Translation, Cold Mountain, In America, Seabiscuit, Master and Commander

Best Foreign Film
Barbarian Invasions

Top Five Foreign Films
Barbarian Invasions, Best of Youth, Monsieur Ibrahim, Autumn Spring, Man on the Train

Top Five Documentaries
The Fog of War, Capturing the Friedmans, My Architect, Winged Migration, Spellbound

Best Actor
Sean Penn, Mystic River and 21 Grams

Best Actress
Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give

Best Supporting Actor
Alec Baldwin, The Cooler

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April and The Station Agent

Best Acting by an Ensemble
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Breakthrough Performance Actor
Paul Giamatti, American Splendor

Breakthrough Performance Actress
Charlize Theron, Monster

Best Director
Edward Zwick, The Last Samurai

Best Documentary
The Fog of War

Best Animated Feature
Finding Nemo

Best Film or Mini-Series Made for Cable TV
Angels in America

Billy Wilder Award for Excellence in Directing
Norman Jewison

Career Achievement - Film Music Composition
Hans Zimmer

Career Achievement - Cinematography
John Toll

William K. Everson Award for Film History
Richard LaGravanese and Ted Demme for A Decade Under the Influence

Producer's Award
Gale Anne Hurd, Kathleen Kennedy, and Christine Vachon

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It's weird that they hand out "Best Picture of 2003" and 2003 isn't even over yet. :)

[CMJ]

They see all the movies though. They used to go at the very end of December - but since the Academy moved their date earlier, basically everyone else has too.

[Figrin D'an]

Question for CMJ: Traditionally, how much of an indicator is this for Golden Globe and Academy awards, in terms of big category winners?

[CMJ]

Pretty spotty. On average about 50% of winners are also recognized by the Academy. That's including Picture/Direcor/Actor etc. I'm not surprised ROTK wasn't nominated - this group did not recognize the first 2. I think the Globes and the PGA will really determine if it will win the big award.

[Syo]

It just seems odd to be voting best pictures for the year when theres still a month to go

Heck two movie that I have been antipating come out this month in Return of the King and the Last Samurai

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
It's weird that they hand out "Best Picture of 2003" and 2003 isn't even over yet. :)

In other words, it's a load of crap. I very much doubt they had seen a finished LOTR by the time they complied that list.

[CMJ]

Marcus...believe me they did. But as I said the first 2 weren't given ANY recognition. The fact that a pretty anti Fantasy establishment group bestowed Best Ensemble to ROTK was the biggest shocker of the day.

'Big Fish' was given zilch...and it is a very big buzz movie around town. It also has fantasy elements. The NBR just doesn't go for that stuff.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by CMJ
The fact that a pretty anti Fantasy establishment group bestowed Best Ensemble to ROTK was the biggest shocker of the day.


If that's true, it might bode well for ROTK. *shrugs*

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Big Fish? Never heard of it. :huh

[Keerrourri Feessaarro]

Originally posted by CMJ
Marcus...believe me they did. But as I said the first 2 weren't given ANY recognition. The fact that a pretty anti Fantasy establishment group bestowed Best Ensemble to ROTK was the biggest shocker of the day.

'Big Fish' was given zilch...and it is a very big buzz movie around town. It also has fantasy elements. The NBR just doesn't go for that stuff.

I certainly wouldn't register LotR's group for "Best Acting Ensemble", so yeah, that's a big jaw-drop

[TCM'74]

Originally posted by Keerrourri Sarrtarroa
I certainly wouldn't register LotR's group for "Best Acting Ensemble", so yeah, that's a big jaw-drop

I agree. There is no truly recognizable standout performances in the previous LoTR movie. It is all rather pedestrian save for Ian McKellan and Bernard Hill. The rest is supported by a very moving score. But, now, Mystic River knocked my socks off.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by TCM'74
I agree. There is no truly recognizable standout performances in the previous LoTR movie. It is all rather pedestrian save for Ian McKellan and Bernard Hill. The rest is supported by a very moving score. But, now, Mystic River knocked my socks off.


Perhaps that's why it's "acting ensemble" not "best actor."

[Keerrourri Feessaarro]

Even as an ensemble, I don't think its very noteworthy.

Now, if we're talking cinematography or something, that's viable, IMO.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

:p Get your own award show then? :)

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
:p Get your own award show then? :)

I'm explaining the reasoning as to why the award is unusual. I'm not exactly trying to bring their credibility into question. Differentiate, please.

[TCM'74]

The talent is there in LotR, yet the characters get an undernourished colourless and dull treatment.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Big Fish? Never heard of it. :huh

It is Tim Burton's new film staring Ewan Mcgregor, Albert Finney and Billy Cudrup, comes out sometime this month.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

Originally posted by TCM'74
The talent is there in LotR, yet the characters get an undernourished colourless and dull treatment.

I never really saw anything noteworthy. Ian McKellen did reasonably well, but I can't say that for anyone else. Viggo Mortensen is dreadful IMO, and I've made my opinion of Liv Tyler well known.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I agree about Tyler, I am glad she isn't in the movie much :p The rest of the cast I think do a good job of acting although Mckellen stands out from the rest.

[Figrin D'an]

Sean Bean was great as Boromir, IMO. McKellen was worthy of his Best Supporting Actor nomination for Fellowship. And Sean Astin is going to really catch some attention by the time ROTK is released. I felt he started to show some of the great brave and noble aspects of Samwise in the second film, and if the film holds to the book in this respect, he'll have a great opportunity to stand out in the final chapter.

And you have to admit, even though his performance is digitally reconstructed, Andy Serkis has made Gollum a real character.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

Sean Bean is excellent, but his character is a flash in the pan, and not in the sequels.

Astin...meh. I really like the actor, but I haven't felt moved by his performance. I'm willing to be proven wrong though.

Serkins is a ham. I'd be wary to say that's a good thing. I think its an issue of over-acting to the extreme.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Commander Zemil Vymes
Serkins is a ham. I'd be wary to say that's a good thing. I think its an issue of over-acting to the extreme.

I won't deny that he can ham things up a little, but I don't really think that's a bad thing. The duality of Gollum/Smeagol makes it necessary to make sure there's a clear differentiation between the side of his personality, so I don't really mind a little bit of over-acting to distinguish between the two. I guess I don't see it as being over-acting to the point of being part of the William Shatner & Ricardo Montalban School of Acting or something.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I would put him in that group maybe the Gary Oldman overacting school which I think is a good thing :p
Edit what I mean here is its typical of villain actors to over act from the great Vincent Price to Christopher Lee, Alan Rickman to Gary Oldman. Its part of the trade and I think he fits right into that.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

I disagree. I think the gist could've been carried with gusto and still be done with a noticably less forward brunt than he gave Gollum/Smeagol.

It annoyed me severely, I dunno.

[TCM'74]

Sean Bean really raised the bar for the rest of the cast but only Ian McKellan was up to par.

Compared to many Akira Kurosawa films or Inagaki's Samurai trilogy or even Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo from the Original Trilogy. There is something lacking in each individual performance in LotR. Because Peter Jackson spent more time developing the story than it's characters. And fantastic characters are a key element to enriching every saga.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I thought Christopher Lee did a great job in the two films. Of course he always does.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
I thought Christopher Lee did a great job in the two films. Of course he always does.

I'd disagree, he's awfully typecast. Not saying I don't enjoy his work, but he's had a few decades to make the "aristocratic archvillain" thing work. All that time playing Dracula for Hammer films, he really should be good at it by now, I'd hope!

Ironically, the most unorthodox role I've seen him play was that of Francisco Scaramanger, in the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun

[TCM'74]

Well, Christopher Lee had very limited screen time and I don't think it required too much of his acting talent. He did an excellent job though but typecast no, not at all. He was just a perfect choice to be cast as Saruman.

[Charley]

What?

Look at his repertoire. That type of character makes up more than half of his roles, easily.

[TCM'74]

True, but the typecast I feel wasn't intentional. Christopher Lee's unique qualifications are unquestionable, he can easily tackle a role such as Saruman that other actors would have found difficult. A once noble and elegant wizard in a fantasy saga is perfect.

[Charley]

So how is his performance exceptional?

[TCM'74]

No, I just said he did an excellent job. He carried the character quite well inspite the little demands the role probably had for him.

[JediBoricua]

I agree, I can visualize ROTK sweeping the big two oscars, movie & director, and still not getting any actor wins, perhaps a few nods but no statue.

I for one liked that Jackson emphasized on the story, is a great story and since I read the books is no problem to me to know about each character. Of course this could be a problem for some viewers and I'm sure they will no experience the emotion of watchingAragorn become King, or Gollum fall down Mt. Doom I felt when reading about it. In the books you felt attached to each member of the fellowship, something that can never be done as good in any movie adaptation.