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Randy Walden's BlogPosted by Randy Walden Oscar time is almost upon us. In the spirit of an election year, get out (or click over) and vote for your pick for Best Picture for the 80th Academy Awards. Visit the Suite101 Film Dramas poll. This is your chance to really make a difference. If it’s been awhile since you’ve seen one of the films, check out this side-by-side comparison of the Best Picture nominees, with links to individual reviews. Feel free to leave comments letting me know how much you agree with me, or what an idiot I am. For a look at nominees in other major categories, check out the “Oscar Nominations 2008” blog post. Brush Up on Oscar History If you’re a glutton for punishment, or just crazed with Oscar-mania, you can find out more than you ever wanted to know about the coveted little statuette at the Oscars website. Legend has it that the award picked up the name “Oscar” after an Academy librarian by the name of Margaret Herrick (who later went on to become executive director), said the trophy reminded her of her Uncle Oscar. The 8-1/2 pound trinket was first dubbed “Oscar” by the press in 1934 by columnist Sydney Skolski, referring to Kate Hepburn’s first Best Actress win at the 6th Academy Awards (for Morning Glory). Posted by Randy Walden The Hollywood writers strike is finally over. Over 90 percent of the roughly 3,775 Writers Guild of America members in Los Angeles and New York voted yesterday to end their 100-day walkout. The vote comes after WGA board members recommended a contract which will grant writers increased revenue and jurisdiction for internet-related content. It’s not everything the writers hoped for, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what they had. Kudos to the writers for hanging tough. Kudos as well to News Corp. President Peter Chernin and Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger, who finally stepped in to negotiate on the studios’ behalf. The two were seen as much less contentious, and much more willing to negotiate, than Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It will take some time to assess the fallout, as studios scramble to ramp up production of current projects before actors’ contracts expire this summer. Keep your fingers crossed. Studios are also going to have to fight to win back some of the viewers who fled to the internet during the strike. The Los Angeles Times reports today that the number of videos streamed on YouTube spiked 12 percent from November to December, with the amount of time the average viewer spent watching videos increasing from an average of seven minutes to 111 minutes. Posted by Randy Walden The following list details the nominees in the major categories of: Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay. Winners are denoted with an asterisk (*). The 80th Academy Awards aired February 24th on ABC. See "80th Oscars Honor Foreign Talent" for full Oscar night coverage. Picture: (See a side by side comparison of the Best Picture nominees. No Country for Old Men also won the Suite101 poll.) Director:
Lead Actor:
Lead Actress:
Original Screenplay:
Adapted Screenplay:
Posted by Randy Walden What if they held an awards show and people actually showed up? Surprise! It actually happened last night. Even as the Oscar race is at once heating up and wavering on the brink of destruction, the 14th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards went on with A-list actors in full force, and it even had the blessing of the Writers Guild. In spite of the 12-week-old writers strike, WGA President Patric Verrone attended the event, in seeming thanks for actors’ support of the writers’ cause. The short list of SAG winners includes:
Josh Brolin, one of the stars of No Country for Old Men, spoke for the cast, saying, “It’s a risky movie. And it’s nice to have risky movies.” Indeed. While not among my favorite flicks of the year, one has to give credit for some edgy filmmaking, and one certainly can’t fault the acting. Charles Durning also received SAG’s lifetime achievement award. At 84 years old, Durning, whose credits include The Sting, Dog Day Afternoon and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and who has four upcoming films, said he still had a lot to learn. “I’m just getting the hang of it,” he quipped. Posted by Randy Walden WGA Talks to Resume Following the Directors Guild of America settlement with the studios, Hollywood writers are now poised to get back to the negotiating table, maybe as early as next Tuesday. Indeed, the writers weren’t the ones who left the table in the first place. Let’s hope both sides will show a little more flexibility, without the writers having to sacrifice too much ground on new media payments. After all, while the DGA settlement may help pave the way for a writers deal, writers shouldn’t be bound by directors, who have traditionally had a more favorable arrangement anyway. Grammys Waiver? Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America is considering whether to grant a waiver for the upcoming Grammys show. But the WGA shouldn’t equivocate much. While I don’t have much sympathy for major music labels, the music industry drastically needs a shot in the arm right now. Moreover, as Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow pointed out to the Los Angeles Times, the Academy is “not the enemy.” They’ve been on the forefront of copyright battles to protect content against piracy for a long time. The WGA should respect their musical counterparts, and the tough times they’re facing. Since the advent of the digital age, music industry woes make writers’ troubles seem like a walk in the park right. The WGA needs to choose its battles. And while tanking the Golden Globes was the right call, taking the same tack with the Grammys doesn’t fit the bill. Posted by Randy Walden The Golden Globes went fizzle and pop last night, with all the glitz of a shunned prom date who decided to go bowling. I tried to watch about five minutes, but only made it to three, which made it easier to honor my unofficial boycott. The writers strike is crippling Hollywood. The ripple effect is decimating not only writers and actors (meaning the majority of guild members not rich enough to live off of past earnings or residuals), but the rank and file production crews and support services, as well as subsidiary businesses. Nobody “wants” this strike. And it’s beginning to outrage a lot of people, like Richard Zanuck, who produced Sweeny Todd (winner of the Golden Globe for Best Movie: Musical or Comedy). “Some people can never recover no matter how writers settle for themselves,” Zanuck was quoted in the Los Angeles Times. “When you think of it in those terms, you feel outrage at both sides. It has to end. You’ve got to have people with the courage to stand up and say we’re not going to take it anymore.” But isn’t that precisely what the writers have done, to take a stand and say they’re not going to take it anymore? They’ve been largely treated like Hollywood’s red-headed step children from the get go, as if they were golden-egg-laying geese whose only purpose was to be milked by the studios for as much as they could get. Writers have been more than patient with studios over the years, while being bilked out of a reasonable cut of video and DVD revenue. They’re tired of it, and simply want a fair share of new media. If the geese are tired of producing content for pennies on the dollar, it’s time for the studios to budge. Posted by Randy Walden Welcome to the Suite101 Film Dramas blog and topic page! I was just promoted, over the holidays, as the designated feature writer for this section. For the next week or two, I’ll be feeling my way around and getting up to speed with my new responsibilities, and the various bells and whistles at my disposal. My goal is to create a vibrant discussion area for film drama and quality cinema in general, and I’ll have my hands full since we’re beginning with awards season in full swing, amid a writers strike that’s threatening to cripple Hollywood. But luckily, this has been a bumper-crop year for excellent movies, like In the Valley of Elah, even if the current hyper-violent trend, in movies like No Country for Old Men or Eastern Promises, seems too easily to equate bloodshed with quality drama. We’ll explore these themes and more as we go along, and I’d love to hear suggestions about anything else you’d like to see on these pages. Cheers, and once again, welcome! Randy |
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