Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A Handful of Link

Overthinking It has a fun excel crazy piece about the popularity of Best Picture nominees over the years.
Dear Jesus for Presidents Day "President's pets are more interesting than president movies". Love the pics
Stale Popcorn of all the movies in the world you could want a book about...
In Contention slow news day so Kris attacks his "pet peeves" of this Oscar season. Naturally he attacks my favorite pets (Rachel Getting Married), not a peeve. To each their own. But what are your pet peeves of this particular Oscar season?

And this is interesting...
Not Starring
, always an interesting site (There's no fluff... they just go straight to the heart of their chosen topic) has a rundown of this year's Oscar nominated roles and who turned the roles down or wanted but didn't get them. 'What Might Have Been's can boggle one's mind. Heath Ledger in Australia? Juliette Binoche in The Reader? Natalie Portman as Sister James in Doubt? Could she have loved Frosty the Snowman as much as Amy Adams?
*

28 comments:

Dominique said...

NICOLAS CAGE AS THE WRESTLER??!?!?!?

Anonymous said...

Kris' bitterness toward you in his #1 is pretty hilarious!

"Who coined that term? Rogers?"

I have always loved how angry Kris gets about anything that bothers him. Having been watching the OscarWatch crowd since 2000 (jeez, really? I was one of the first forum members. How time flies.) I have always had a soft spot for Cranky Kris.

Anonymous said...

Jeez, this guy (Kris) is constantly bitching about something. Do you really think it's funny?

Anonymous said...

And the Symposium is going to have a double-dose of Kris and Gonzales? Good Lord. Can't deal with them both together.

I read that the reason Natalie Portman gave up the role of Sister James in "Doubt" was b/c she couldn't wrap her head around her character's innocence and celibacy. Weird. And the studio's first choice for The Ram was Nick Nolte, and Darren Aronosfky had to fight tooth and nail to get Mickey Rourke in the lead role.

Anonymous said...

Kris is annoying.

But what's more annoying is when people say that Zoe Saldana is not Black. Ummm Latino/Hispanic is NOT a race. She's clarified in an interview that yes she is a Black woman. idiots. So this is from all those "I wish they'd gotten a Black actress for Star Trek"

From Zoe's mouth:

So I say, time and time again, "Yo soy una mujer negra." ("I am a black woman.") [They go,] "Oh, no, tú eres trigueñita." ("Oh no, you are 'dark skinned'") I'm like, "No! Let's get it straight, yo soy una mujer negra." ("I am a black woman.")

She's even tired of it. Black people are all over the world. There are Black Dominicans, Puerto Ricans etc. Now I can see people claiming that Rosario Dawson isn't Black that's fair she is multiracial. Now I'm done with my rant.

Anonymous said...

God, I just read that pet peeves list and Kris' answers to some of the comments. How much more fun is it reading your site, Nat.

Anonymous said...

That's pretty big of you to link to Kris's web site after he reamed you a big one with his #1 pet peeve. LOL. Throw his ass out of the Symposium for his disrespectin'.

Anonymous said...

Guys, Kris is a grouch. It's just his thing.

He's good at what he does, and has managed to stay vital in the Oscar Predicting scene. Give him some credit.

(but seriously, remember that one article where they interview dave poland, sasha stone, and kris? Kris basically got a complete hose job. The writer painted him as an indifferent, money-minded dick. I think he's a grouch, but he obviously has something that's kept him around.)

Anonymous said...

My favorite movie that didn't happen was Peter Jackson doing Fight Club with Russell Crowe as Tyler Durden.

It's talked about in the book Rebels on the Backlot.

Anonymous said...

I hope Tapley joins Gonzalez on the Button team at the Symposium. At least he'll be on Team Blanchett/Scott Thomas...

O. Andrew D said...

Can someone help me?

I'm having people over for the Oscar's and I want to do ballots. What time do I start my party? It says that they are supposed to start at 8, but does that really mean they wont start giving out awards till 9?

Do I tell people come at 8 and then they have a 1/2 hour to an hour to do their ballots? Or do they have to arrive at like 730?

Anonymous said...

That not starring thing is quite interesting, but when they cite IMDB as a source you have to question the reliability. I mean they say Rachel Weisz was considered for the role of Daisy in Ben Button, but seeing as we know that both Pitt + Blanchett dropped out of the Fountain (which Weisz starred in) probably means that some fan made it up for some odd reason or another.
Emily Blunt actually prompted Amy Adams to fight for the role in Doubt, she said so in an interview.

Anonymous said...

When Natalie Portman becomes a guest judge on Project Runway you have to ask yourself, Is she a real actress anymore?

NO.
The irony is a couple of years ago Anne Hathaway remarked on how she's handed down the scripts passed on by Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman. I think in the case of Scarlett and Natalie she's probably trumped them now.

Anonymous said...

The Problem with that is that Natalie is a better actress than Anne.

Anonymous said...

I actually think Anne is just an okay actress, not exceptional ( most of her performances tend to be dreadful). She's like a Hilary Swank, just happen to have the right role at the right time. The same thing can happen to Amanda Seyfried this year and Hilary again. Who knows.

As for Kris, why would anyone listen to him in relation to the Oscars. He said that Winslet wouldn't get nominated for Eternal he also said she wouldn't get nominated for The Reader.

P.S. I'm sick of Oscar season can we talk about something else. This happens every year though. By the time the nominations are announced everybody is tired of talking about the same ten or twelve movies.

Guy Lodge said...

Paul: Kris is on Team Blanchett all right, but regrettably not on Team Scott Thomas. It's been me waving the flag for her at InContention.

As for all these "grouch" allegations, let's not pretend we haven't all grumbled extensively about this year's awards season. Plus, Kris is one of the few people on the blogosphere NOT bitching about "Slumdog" ;)

(And Anon 7.30: Yeah, Kris didn't see Winslet's "The Reader" performance coming in lead ... like most of us. He had her in supporting, where most pundits expected her to show up.)

PPO-10 said...

"And the Symposium is going to have a double-dose of Kris and Gonzales? Good Lord. Can't deal with them both together." -- Davey

+1...no further comment :)

Sam Brooks said...

I'm so over the trend of buzz for a film being over before the film is even released. The buzz machine is getting way out of hand with each passing year. Next we'll have buzz being over for movies before they're even announced.

Anonymous said...

This is off-topic but still. A couple of days I was surprised (the good way) to see The Film Experience in IMDb (I posted about it). And now I see your reviews on Rotten Tomatoes! Seriously, when are they gonna start paying you? (if they already are or that question offended you, I'd wish you'd stopped reading at "Tomatoes!")

Anonymous said...

Guy, actually when he first saw the movie he said she wouldn't get nominated at all.

Anonymous said...

PPO-10 said...
"And the Symposium is going to have a double-dose of Kris and Gonzales? Good Lord. Can't deal with them both together." -- Davey

+1...no further comment :)


?

Not following what that's supposed to mean.

Anonymous said...

"The Problem with that is that Natalie is a better actress than Anne."

This is fact. Love Hathaway, but she has not surpassed Portman in any way, shape, or form. At least not yet.

Anonymous said...

That's such an awkward conversation...telling Oprah that you don't want her for a part. But John Patrick Shanley made the right choice, that would have been really weird...

Anonymous said...

Nobody could have liked Frosty the Snowman better than Amy Adams...
I bet even Frosty the Snowman doesnot like himself as much as Amy Adams did in the movie...lol
really Natalie Portman wouldnot have done the role justice, nobody can play innocent and confused like Amy Adams.

Glenn Dunks said...

Thanks for the link, Nat.

NATHANIEL R said...

billy right? that would have unbalanced the movie so much. But that's why it's hard for people like Madonna or Oprah in the movies. How can you be anything other than yourself when you're as famous as Jesus or Mickey Mouse?

Karen said...

Good links. It would have been nice to see Streep and Portman share the screen together but it looks like things worked out the best for Adams.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I checked some of the links you recommend and found some good stuff. Thanks!