Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Third Annual Oscar Symposium is About to Begin...

I already feel guilty for taking the day off. What's wrong with me? To quiet the screaming of the lambs my noisy conscience, I thought I'd give you a little heads up on what's next.


Feb 4th ~ 7th: the 3rd Annual Film Experience Hosted Oscar Symposium
I love doing this each year [you can see previous examples from 2006 and 2007]. Let me introduce you to this year's chatterboxes !

February 10th ~ 17th: the 2008 Movie Preview
Another "We Can't Wait" countdown with a different batch of talking heads. Our collective choices for the 15 most mouthwatering movies (sight unseen) on the 2008 calendar.

And in between those two big events the usual blog hijinx. Plus: Oscar page updates and the wrap up of the FB Awards, I know. I know. But no wonder I'm so zonked.
pssst...
Now is your chance to influence the Symposium discussion. Throw some topics at us in the comments and inspire the back 'n' forths yet to come.
*

21 comments:

Calum Reed said...

Woohoo! Really lookin forward to the symposium this year. Will it be in the form of a podcast?

Brian Darr said...

Great to see you've got my buddy Dennis Cozzalio on board this year! I'm more eager than ever to hear what this lineup of folks has to say on the race.

One topic I'm curious to learn y'all's thoughts on is how the "great year in film" that we've all been hearing 2007 was, may have come at the expense of foreign-language film success in the US market. How is this phenomenon played out in the foreign film Oscar category, and what does it mean that there's no Pan's Labyrinth or even Letters to Iwo Jima racking up lots of nominations in the general categories?

El Gigante said...

I'd like to hear your thoughts on two contrasting trends we saw in cinema this year, the gradual but steady resurrection of the musical (Once, Hairspray, Sweeney, Enchanted etc) and dark apocalyptic deconstructions of the American psyche (No Country, TWBB, Clayton etc.).

NATHANIEL R said...

cal --don't think anybody would be able to get a word in edgewise with this many people on a podcast ;)

if you click on the other year's you'll see what it's like.

Anonymous said...

This should be fun! I get all happy when the Oscars get closer, everyday I find it that much harder to breathe!

I'll need to get back to you on some topics, I got some good ones, and on of them is exactly what Brian said up there, coincidences…

Later

Anonymous said...

Every Oscar discussion should be fun...
Except I'll be hitting the walls in anger if ATONEMENT gets to win (and I know I'm against the tide here:)
I can't get rid of my head the sight of those schoolgirls spread on the floor like pieces of domino: cutesy surreal drama. Corny.
Well, don't get me started with the Ferris wheel at the beach...
And I'm with Brian here. Except for one thing. THERE IS a musical among the nominees. Well, at least, one scene reminded me of one: when Romola Garai's Briony appears for the first time, and every other nurse before her start moving out of frame in synchronicity. It's a beautifully choreographed shot. It's ATONEMENT: THE MUSICAL!!
I wish the best to the rest, though:)

Anonymous said...

Every Oscar discussion should be fun...
Except I'll be hitting the walls in anger if ATONEMENT gets to win (and I know I'm against the tide here:)
I can't get rid of my head the sight of those schoolgirls spread on the floor like pieces of domino: cutesy surreal drama. Corny.
Well, don't get me started with the Ferris wheel at the beach...
And I'm with Brian here. Except for one thing. THERE IS a musical among the nominees. Well, at least, one scene reminded me of one: when Romola Garai's Briony appears for the first time, and every other nurse before her start moving out of frame in synchronicity. It's a beautifully choreographed shot. It's ATONEMENT: THE MUSICAL!!
I wish the best to the rest, though:)

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the duplicity.

Gustavo Cruz said...

When shall we get the complete top 10 in order?

Glenn Dunks said...

El Gigante, it's a shame then that the only major musical next year is Mamma Mia. Or am I forgetting something?

Anonymous said...

I've been reading the Film Experience for a year without commenting. Why end the lurking now? Because the Symposium was the reason I found you in the first place (following a link from the Carpetbagger). Feeling sentimental, I guess.

Here are some topics:
1. Why do you think "Lust, Caution" never got any traction this year? Might it have something to do with the hostile reviews from high profile critics like Dargis and Lane, who seemed strangely uncomfortable with sex-as-storytelling?

2. Why the division between the Guilds' love for "Into the Wild" and the Academy and HPFA's near shutouts? (And any thoughts on why editing, of all things, was "Wild"'s one Oscar nod?)

3. And, at the risk of alienating Nathaniel on my first ever post, will anyone among your Symposanista's share my belief that Julie Christie's performance (and "Away from Her") in general are waaaay overrated?

Cheers.

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

One question from me: If Javier Bardem wins, will his Anton Chigurh role be the one with the most amount of personally instigated on-screen violence that the Academy has ever awarded?

(He didn't have minions like Forrest Whitaker's Idi Amin last year.)

NATHANIEL R said...

roscoecashjr,
thanks for delurking! and i'm sure someone won't be into Christie's performance. There's rarely unananimity (sp?) on any topic --one of the reasons I try to get a variety of voices and why i usually include a person or two that I haven't talked with much ever...

Anonymous said...

Kim Morgan will be participating this year? Awesome. This will be like the cinema version of Mt Olympus - Nat being Zeus of course (or Hera, come to think of it.)

RedSatinDoll

Anonymous said...

3. And, at the risk of alienating Nathaniel on my first ever post, will anyone among your Symposanista's share my belief that Julie Christie's performance (and "Away from Her") in general are waaaay overrated?

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Can't stand it. Marion Cotillard was so much better and should be the real frontrunner going into the Oscars.

NATHANIEL R said...

this must be what SLANT magazine keeps talking about with Marion Cotillard fans being so disrespectful to other performances. I can understand preferring her (not that I do --dear god, no) but I can't understand anyone looking at JULIE CHRISTIE's performance and thinking "can't stand it"

that's like looking at Britney Spears with a cheeto in her mouth and thinking --'there's one classy lady'

or looking at Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood and claiming he doesn't really understand teh character.

or looking at Michelle Pfeiffer and saying "ugly!"

are we living in Bizarro land now?

Anonymous said...

There you go with your condescending bullshit again. Accept the fact that some people feel the same way about Julie Christie's performance that you do about Marion Cotillard's. And you're no damn better than anyone else b/c you prefer the former over the latter.

NATHANIEL R said...

i don't think it's condescending to be confused by something.

TELL ME what is bad or terrible about Christie's performance and I'll quit asking. But unless you do it just sounds like sour grapes because your preferred choice is not winning.

If Cate Blanchett wins in supporting actress I'm not suddenly going to claim it's a bad performance just because Tilda (who I think is superior) lost.

do you know what I'm saying? my desire to engage in conversation about these things should clue you in to it not being about condescension. But if you call me on your condescending bullshit. I'll have to call you on your quick to judge condescending anonymity and refusal to engage in conversation ;)

Anonymous said...

What conversation do you want to engage in? You've said repeatedly how you'll never find any worth in Marion Cotillard's performance no matter what anyone says? It's all mimicry and drown-in-the-muck theatrics to you. I found Cotillard's role to be one of the best female turns of this decade. No one is changing the other person's mind. On the other hand, I found Julie Christie's performance to be unengaging, sleepy, and one-note. But you'll counter about how wrong I am and how I need to watch it again or whatever arrogant presumptions and bullshit you love to say about someone disliking a performance that you like. So yes, I'd reward Marion Cotillard readily the Oscar for "La Vie En Rose", while Julie Christie might not break my top ten.

NATHANIEL R said...

"What conversation do you want to engage in?"

one where you don't feel the need to bash a performance --"can't stand it" being fighting words ;) --in order to lift another one up. like i said i can totally see preferring Cotillard to Christie. But I fail to see how one can HATE christie's work unless one is hating it BECAUSE it's winning.

those are different things.

"You've said repeatedly how you'll never find any worth in Marion Cotillard's performance no matter what anyone says? "

when did i say this? I said the film obscures whatever worth there is.

"I found Julie Christie's performance to be unengaging, sleepy, and one-note. But you'll counter about how wrong I am and how I need to watch it again or whatever arrogant presumptions and bullshit you love to say about someone disliking a performance that you like."

wow --comfortable putting words in my mouth you are.

" So yes, I'd reward Marion Cotillard readily the Oscar for "La Vie En Rose", while Julie Christie might not break my top ten."

understood. and that's fine. but
you might want to rephrase WHO is being condescending and reread what you just wrote. you make a lot of assumptions here and your basic argument is that if i disagree with you i'm it's "arrogant bullshit"

nice.

and you fail to notice that other Cotillard lovers --like my close pal Nick (in the symposium) who also prefers her to Christie -- don't feel so condescended towards when I stump for Christie.

we're all film lovers and we all have opinions. dont' take it as a sign of disrespect if the author of any particular blog doesn't agree with yours

if you take it so personally you'll always be angry because everyone has opinions and it's kinda the whole point, if you're writing about movies, to share them.

Anonymous said...

"I found Julie Christie's performance to be unengaging, sleepy, and one-note. But you'll counter about how wrong I am and how I need to watch it again or whatever arrogant presumptions and bullshit you love to say about someone disliking a performance that you like."

wow --comfortable putting words in my mouth you are.


it's the truth. You've done it many times before.

"What conversation do you want to engage in?"

one where you don't feel the need to bash a performance --"can't stand it" being fighting words ;) --in order to lift another one up. like i said i can totally see preferring Cotillard to Christie. But I fail to see how one can HATE christie's work unless one is hating it BECAUSE it's winning.

those are different things.


So essentially, you can say that you hate Marion Cotillard's performance, but I can't say that I hate Julie Christie's. That's hypocritical nonsense. You can't seem to hear something that goes against your precious racehorse, which is the same argument you've given to me. Your view is no better than anyone else's.