Saturday, February 28, 2009

New Podcast: Oscar Night Memories and "Best Consecutive Oscar Runs"

Nathaniel walks to the stage, tears welling in his eyes
Thank you so, so much. Whistle so I can tell where you are dear reader... There you are! Thank you for listening to our informal chatty awardsy podcast all season and especially for commenting so we know we're not talking into the great web void. I couldn't have done this without my beautiful co-stars Joe, Nick and Katey who always believed in me! I also must thank my accoun ---[drowned out by orchestra]
Enough hokey awards show humor. If you aren't already completely Oscared out (you're totally forgiven if you are), join the four musketeers for one last podcast pow-wow about Oscar night. The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.

Topics include but are not limited to:
  • Jessica Biel's napkin and Marisa Tomei's "envelopes"
  • Meryl Streep in the front row, Anne Hathaway singing, Hugh Jackman up on stage
  • Commie Homo Loving Sean Penn
  • Penélope Cruz Obsessions. Spreading like brushfire
  • Why is there no Oscar cable channel?
Somewhere round about the middle of the podcast (60 minutes this time. We had much gushing to do) Nick dropped an intriguing question for listeners/readers. What do you think is the Best Consecutive Run for Acting Oscar winners ever? Nick thinks it might actually be the last four years of Best Actor, great performances all...
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
  • Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
  • Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
  • Sean Penn, Milk
Well done, AMPAS. I counter with a five year spread of Best Actresses in the 1960s that I think is unbelievably satisfying. Which consecutive string of winners thrills you most? We want to hear it in the comments.
*

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best Supporting Actress 1948-1956
Claire Trevor (Key Largo)
Mercedes McCambridge (All the King's Men)
Josephine Hull (Harvey)
Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful)
Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity)
Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront)
Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden)
Dorothy Malone (Written on the Wind)

And during this streak, sadly, Thelma Ritter racked up the first four (consecutive) of her six winless nominations (All About Eve, The Mating Season, With A Song in My Heart, Pickup on South Street)

Anonymous said...

I actually think there have been many more "mistakes" or wrongly awarded Oscars for the Male categories. Probably because they spend half of the Oscars on apologies to the snubbed (cough - Pacino - cough)
I kinda liked Best Actress 1990-93
1990 - Kathy Bates in Misery
1991 - Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
1992 - Emma Thompson in Howards End
1993 - <3 Holly Hunter in The Piano

Hunter's performance I honestly believe is the greatest Female Lead ever. or at least that I've seen. After seeing that performance I figure there isn't much more to experience in life

Anonymous said...

If not for Jessica Lange in 1994 I would've kept that stretch going through 1996 including Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking and Frances McDormand in Fargo

NATHANIEL R said...

Casey... there's a lot more to life BUT it is definitely in the upper echelons of "ever" ;)

That is a good run there.

Anonymous said...

Great podcast. Who wouldn't want to throw popcorn at the tv while watching Streisand lose to Jackson?

I think you should do a rundown of the classic Best Actress nominees. That'd be heaven.

1959- Simone Signoret in Room at the Top
1958- Susan Hayward in I Want to Live!
1957- Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve
1956- Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia
1955- Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo

If not for Garland losing to Kelly in 1954, the 1950s would've been a great decade for Best Actress, give or take Shirley Booth. You'd still have Vivien Leigh and Judy Holliday.

Ben said...

Best Actor 1951-1954

Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen)
Gary Cooper (High Noon)
William Holden (Stalag 17)
Marlon Brandon (On the Watefront)

...if only James Dean would have won in 1955, it would have been a great run.

But yes, the past 4 years for Best Actor have been terrific and definitely are tough competition for any run.

Murtada said...

great podcast

Hugh Jackman's song about the Reader was the funniest part of the ceremony

strangely I found mself humming "the reader, I haven't seen the reader....." on the subway all week long

NATHANIEL R said...

Kent. I'd love to do some sort of best actress history project but I still have a lot to say believe it or not (a lot!). i really need to find a way to cut back on modern cinema so i can clear up some of my empty spots in classic cinema. My worst decade is probably the 40s. Sometimes I feel like I've seen nothing.

NicksFlickPicks said...

@Kent: My day job makes it hard to develop at the speed I'd like, but I've started such a project over here.

Neb said...

I'm a big fan of the Best Actress from the 70's.

74 - Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live her Anymore
75 - Louise Fletcher, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
76 - Faye Dunaway, Network
77 - Diane Keaton, Annie Hall

That's a murderer's row right there.

Beau said...

PSH - Capote
(NOT a good performance.)

Sam Brooks said...

1968-1973 represents a good run, I think

Barbra Streisand - Women in Love
Katharine Hepburn - Lion in Winter
Maggie Smith - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Glenda Jackson - Women in Love
Jane Fonda - Klute
Liza Minelli - Cabaret
Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Nick. It's indeed genius with a lot of personal preferences. You should publish it after you finish! I'd buy it.

The 1970s was also an incredible decade. Jackson, Fonda x2, Minnelli, Burstyn, Fletcher, Dunaway, Keaton, & Field!

Anonymous said...

Not where most people look, but the award for Best Visual Effects underwent a renaissance in 1977 with "Star Wars" and saw a run of at least six years (arguably ten) where the winners (mostly Industrial Light and Magic) pretty much rewrote what was possible and, eventually, what was routinely expected for technical wizardry in movies.

1977 Star Wars
1978 Superman: The Movie
1979 Alien
1980 The Empire Strikes Back
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Sam Brooks said...

I'd also like to give a little shoutout to the Penelope Cruz mention. Has any actress managed to turn the critical opinion about her completely around in such a short amount of time?

You go back in time like five years, even three years, and tell people that Penelope Cruz would have an Oscar and you would be laughed at, my friend.

John T said...

I think you'd be hard-pressed to top this run:

1963-Patricia Neal (Hud)
1964-Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins)
1965-Julie Christie (Darling)
1966-Elizabeth Taylor (Who's Afraid...)

This is also good:

1992-Gene Hackman
1993-Tommy Lee Jones
1994-Martin Landau
1995-Kevin Spacey

And yes, I'd also buy any Best Actress book that Nick was willing to write.

NATHANIEL R said...

John T -- that's the run I cited (best actress early 60s...)

Agustin said...

nat,
i just realized
the clips on the nominated performances went missing because of you!
You didn't ask us for the parts they should show in the reel! They take ideas from us.
All your fault.

NATHANIEL R said...

the shame. the shame.

who knew I had such deeply rooted powers. Now, if only i can learn to control the nominations telepathically!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of your "problem" with Penelope Cruz, how many other actresses have two gold medals from the Film Bitch awards?

NATHANIEL R said...

i have no idea! i've never made any sort of statistics chart other than the year by year.

Anonymous said...

That's "Funny Girl" for Babs, Brooke.

Anonymous said...

Can I express my outrage, that there was so little Winslet lovin' ?

Haha. Seriously, what a great way to end a season and wrap things up.

Ryan said...
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Ryan said...
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Ryan said...

*falls off chair”

No. It couldn’t have been MY Kristin. Perhaps Nathaniel meant KirstEn.

*listens to podcast again*

oh my god. It IS my Kristin.

*starts Hyperventilating*

Kristin!!! My Kristin!!! You are actually going to be exchanging real dialogue with my coolly elegant, yet equally smoldering British goddess???!!! No, that would… no… surely I misinterpreted something.

To keep myself sane, I’d like to pay tribute to four amazing podcasters;

You guys all rock so hard for doing this; props to NATHANIEL for continuing to put these gems together while contributing his own great insights and fun commentary; personal highlights for me this round included Hugh Jackman “putting ‘them’ in their place and his actressexual panic upon having his Penelope suddenly stolen—despite that “three years ago he just hated her”. And of course, the last minute nod to Hawkin’s truly unforgettable Globe win/speech—thanks in part to la Steep and Thompson.

As for the rest of the brilliant gang, I’m oh so going to miss Joe (“MIA was at your party!?”) and Katie (would have killed to see her rendition of ‘Benjamin Button’)’s wicked quips and enriching conversations. Just for the record, Joe, I hear you on those missing clips- would it be to much for the producers to gives us both-- clips and the five previous winners introducing I mean?

And NICK… oh and Nick… man just slays me every time. Love his illuminating shout-outs to both the uber famous (“How dare you beat my film”) and lesser known tech folks too… not to mentioned his killer wry humor— highlights including the dangers of being caviler toward Julie Christie… Penelope Cruz’s plan’s for an Oscar-winning documentary short starring Cate Blanchett… and of course, coining the genius phrase Team Abacus. heeeee. And while I have one hell of a bone to pick with him over giving Diane Lane’s searing work in UNFAITHFUL only 2 stars (I actually rented ‘Walk on the Moon’ just to be certain), his Best Actress project continues to be an astounding treat.

My only teeny, tiny quibble regarding the podcast was, ah hem, the lack of talk regarding Mr. Heath Ledger and his historic victory. I mean, besides the actual bittersweet win, there was lots to discuss- like how more than half of that trophy is for his performance as “Ennis Del Mar” or how/why the producers picked Philip Glass’s score from 'The Hours' (track: “Escape!”) to immediately follow Ledger’s win- albeit more so under the documentary nominees.

But I ain’t complaining, excellent podcast and a truly wonderful capsule of the 2008 film award season.

oh, almost forgot- these 4 are a hellva Best Actress succession:
90- Bates!!!
91- Foster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
92- Thompson!!!!!!!
93- Hunter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dame James said...

Loved the podcast (as usual) but I have one minor gripe with the group: you can not honestly STILL be complaining the camera cutting away from Amanda and Dominic and back to "Zac and whatever her name is" during the "Musicals are Back!" number. Seriously? If you watch it again, there's one, possibly two, close ups of Zac & Vanessa to the one of Amanda & Dominic. And, in all honesty, do you really believe that that performance was about anything but BEYONCE?

This brings me to a point: Why is there such a bias against Zac (I understand the Vanessa Hudgens bias because, frankly, she sucks) and the High School Musical films. Newsflash: HSM3 was superior to Mamma Mia! in nearly every way possible (except for the music- ABBA rules all- and the script, which was equally bad). The musical sequences were more cinematic, the choreography was actually existent, the acting from a couple of performers were quite good and, in all honesty, I'd rather watch Ashley Tisdale's manipulative, sexy, spotlight-demanding diva Sharpay rather than Dame Julie Walters cackling away like Margaret Hamilton any day of the week. So, please, if you're going to rip apart HSM and act like Mamma Mia! is some superior piece of art, see it first.

Oh, and the best runs:
Best Supporting Actress (39-41):
Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind
Jane Darwell, The Grapes of Wrath
Mary Astor, The Great Lie

Best Supporting Actress (05-08):
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls (suck it, haters)
TILDA, Michael Clayton
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Joe Reid said...

Sigh. Once again I have to abdicate props; Ryan, you're a sweetheart for saying so, but that MIA line was Nick's. As a general rule of thumb, all the really funny lines are Nick's. All the times you can't understand what the guy is saying are me. But thanks for the kind words nonetheless.

That Cooper/Seyfried/Efron/Whatsherface thing was mine, though. I should mention that, indeed, I haven't seen HSM3, but I wouldn't be surprised of it was better than Mamma Mia. It's kind of a low bar to clear. I was only speaking of my general preference for Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in general (on celluloid, in photos, in my living room); I always want to see more of them. I wasn't hating on Efron and Efron's Girlfriend per se. The kid looks great with his shirt off, who am I to complain?

Ryan said...

Damn, sorry I really thought the MIA one was you Joe. It's hard with the voices. But no way Joe- I've laughed my ass off on several occasions. Off the top of my head;

Selma Hayek's utter possessivness of Penelope Cruz... Aniston's "can't take off anymore cloths".. swips at Swank.

all of which had me in stitche-. I love you joe! But the whole things an "ensemble" effort anyway right :)

Anonymous said...

Anonymous (As Anne Hathaway Singing):
Dame James Henry. I think I looooveee you.

Glenn said...

LOVED the podcast. I LOLed a lot, honestly. Go Team Abacus! Thanks for the great award season podcasts you guys. Top stuff.