Hilarious! The joke about the Marigold Hotel was pure genius, also Daniel Plainview impressions are the funniest thing ever (to me anyways), I definitely laughed out loud during that bit 😀
I agree with your assessment on the oscars (and love them for your same reasons you mention on your previous episode). This year is better than last year and I’m really happy Amour got a couple noms, Django was a given with the Weinsteins and Golden Showers Playbook is just a movie I disliked, left a bad taste in my mouth (had to rewatch Young Adult to try and erase it, that’s a film that gets it right, absolutely love it).
I still have a bunch of best picture nominees to check out, but my predictions are actually very similar to yours which made me happy and made me feel a bit competent even 😉
Lincoln isn’t saying “pretty fucking Tammany Hall hucksters” in that scene, he’s saying “pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters.”
pet·ti·fog·ging [pet-ee-fog-ing, -faw-ging]
adjective
1.
insignificant; petty: pettifogging details.
2.
dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.
Origin:
1605–15; back formation from pettifogger, equivalent to petty + fogger < Middle Low German voger or Middle Dutch voeger one who arranges things; akin to Old English gefōg a joining
Does everybody forget that The Artist was a comedy? It won Best Picture, Actor and Director.
I’m not even sure it’s the Academy’s fault that they don’t award comedies as much. Remember the media uproar when Marissa Tomei won for My Cousin Vinni? You still hear jokes about it today even after she’s been nominated again and again for great dramas like In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.
Daniel Day-Lewis had some very funny moments in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and Joaquin Phoenix’s entire performance (and it was that) in I’M STILL HERE is hilarious.
Conversely, there are whole swaths of comedic actors who couldn’t play drama for the life of them, nor would we particularly want them to. Maurice Chevalier, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, Mae West, and Charlie Ruggles come to mind. Even Cary Grant, Jerry Lewis, and Leslie Howard, all of whom would go on to do drama, were never better than when they were playing for laughs. They’re brilliant in their own stratosphere, and even starting from the position of, “oh, well, any comedian could play drama” still presupposes that drama is a “higher calling.” For my money, Cary Grant’s one of the greatest actors who ever lived, and it’s purely for his comedic work.
The Academy absolutely should have a comedy category, at least for performances, in large part because that mode of acting is so different from drama, but also – if they stuck to their guns – because it would create a market for a better class of comedy film than that to which we’re currently being treated. The talent’s out there (any random episode of half a dozen sitcoms will illustrate that), but the market isn’t perceived to be.
In the last 10 years, the comedies that have been nominated for Best Picture:
Silver Lining Playbook
Django Unchained
Midnight Paris
The Descendants
True Grit
Toy Story 3
The King’s Speech
Up in the Air
Inglourius Basterds
Up
Juno
Little Miss Sunshine
Sideways
Lost in Translation
I don’t think you’ll be able to convince anybody that The King’s Speech and True Grit were comedies just because they have some humor. Even Schindler’s List has some jokes and dark humor.
One you missed was A Serious Man which was nominated for Best Picture in 2009. It’s a pretty bleak black comedy that probably got votes thanks to the Coen Bros winning two years earlier.
Someone mentioned that they usually give Best Actress to the older nominees (in reference to Emmanuelle Riva). Though the Academy consistently (and creepily) awards Best Actress only to the babes:
Julia Roberts
Halle Berry
Nicole Kidman
Charlize Theron
Reese Witherspoon
Marion Cotillard
Kate Winslet
Sandra Bullock
Natalie Portman
Even Helen Mirren did a topless photoshoot while promoting The Queen.
I meant Babe as a pejorative against the Academy since the theory says the voters are old men lusting after the under-40 movie stars.
Mirren and Streep are the only over-Sixty Female winners in recent memory. 60+ winners are pretty frequent in Supporting Actor: Coburn, Caine, Freeman, Arkin, Plummer)
Just picking up on Tyler’s point on why the Academy couldn’t just pick both Dicaprio & Waltz for Django and the snubs for both Bigelow and Affleck, worth pointing out that members (in most categories) only really get one vote (that counts) in each category. So, for example if Tyler was a member of the acting branch, he’d get up to five picks on his ballot but only one of his choices (at most) would count. So if he had Waltz at #1 and Dicaprio at #2, it’s only his vote for Waltz that would have counted. With directing, Bigelow and Affleck could have been on every director’s ballot but if they weren’t getting the #1 votes or often being placed behind the director’s that got in, none of the votes would have counted. Will never know unless they realise the full voting results but I suspect a lot of snubs/surprises come from the voting system rather than the members making bad choices. Personally I think members should get 5 picks that count in the voting (1 point each) and this would better reflect what the Academy really think are the 5 best achievements in each category.
In this episode, Tyler and David are joined by the Comedy Film Nerds Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini to discuss the recent Oscar nominations.
Hilarious! The joke about the Marigold Hotel was pure genius, also Daniel Plainview impressions are the funniest thing ever (to me anyways), I definitely laughed out loud during that bit 😀
I agree with your assessment on the oscars (and love them for your same reasons you mention on your previous episode). This year is better than last year and I’m really happy Amour got a couple noms, Django was a given with the Weinsteins and Golden Showers Playbook is just a movie I disliked, left a bad taste in my mouth (had to rewatch Young Adult to try and erase it, that’s a film that gets it right, absolutely love it).
I still have a bunch of best picture nominees to check out, but my predictions are actually very similar to yours which made me happy and made me feel a bit competent even 😉
Lincoln isn’t saying “pretty fucking Tammany Hall hucksters” in that scene, he’s saying “pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters.”
pet·ti·fog·ging [pet-ee-fog-ing, -faw-ging]
adjective
1.
insignificant; petty: pettifogging details.
2.
dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.
Origin:
1605–15; back formation from pettifogger, equivalent to petty + fogger < Middle Low German voger or Middle Dutch voeger one who arranges things; akin to Old English gefōg a joining
That is even cooler. By the way, I thought he said PETTY fucking Tammany Hall hucksters, not PRETTY fucking Tammany Hall hucksters.
– David
The reason why there is only 9 candidates for Best Picture is that a film most receive at least 5% of the voting pool to qualify.
Does everybody forget that The Artist was a comedy? It won Best Picture, Actor and Director.
I’m not even sure it’s the Academy’s fault that they don’t award comedies as much. Remember the media uproar when Marissa Tomei won for My Cousin Vinni? You still hear jokes about it today even after she’s been nominated again and again for great dramas like In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.
Good point. The Artist is really funny.
– David
Daniel Day-Lewis had some very funny moments in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and Joaquin Phoenix’s entire performance (and it was that) in I’M STILL HERE is hilarious.
Conversely, there are whole swaths of comedic actors who couldn’t play drama for the life of them, nor would we particularly want them to. Maurice Chevalier, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, Mae West, and Charlie Ruggles come to mind. Even Cary Grant, Jerry Lewis, and Leslie Howard, all of whom would go on to do drama, were never better than when they were playing for laughs. They’re brilliant in their own stratosphere, and even starting from the position of, “oh, well, any comedian could play drama” still presupposes that drama is a “higher calling.” For my money, Cary Grant’s one of the greatest actors who ever lived, and it’s purely for his comedic work.
The Academy absolutely should have a comedy category, at least for performances, in large part because that mode of acting is so different from drama, but also – if they stuck to their guns – because it would create a market for a better class of comedy film than that to which we’re currently being treated. The talent’s out there (any random episode of half a dozen sitcoms will illustrate that), but the market isn’t perceived to be.
In the last 10 years, the comedies that have been nominated for Best Picture:
Silver Lining Playbook
Django Unchained
Midnight Paris
The Descendants
True Grit
Toy Story 3
The King’s Speech
Up in the Air
Inglourius Basterds
Up
Juno
Little Miss Sunshine
Sideways
Lost in Translation
I don’t think you’ll be able to convince anybody that The King’s Speech and True Grit were comedies just because they have some humor. Even Schindler’s List has some jokes and dark humor.
One you missed was A Serious Man which was nominated for Best Picture in 2009. It’s a pretty bleak black comedy that probably got votes thanks to the Coen Bros winning two years earlier.
I do not know, I find True Grit to be a comedic Western. And The King Speech places most of its dramatic beats in a comedic manner.
Someone mentioned that they usually give Best Actress to the older nominees (in reference to Emmanuelle Riva). Though the Academy consistently (and creepily) awards Best Actress only to the babes:
Julia Roberts
Halle Berry
Nicole Kidman
Charlize Theron
Reese Witherspoon
Marion Cotillard
Kate Winslet
Sandra Bullock
Natalie Portman
Even Helen Mirren did a topless photoshoot while promoting The Queen.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you implying, sir, that Helen Mirren is not a babe?!
I meant Babe as a pejorative against the Academy since the theory says the voters are old men lusting after the under-40 movie stars.
Mirren and Streep are the only over-Sixty Female winners in recent memory. 60+ winners are pretty frequent in Supporting Actor: Coburn, Caine, Freeman, Arkin, Plummer)
Emmanuelle Riva is older than Jessica Tandy was when she won.
Just picking up on Tyler’s point on why the Academy couldn’t just pick both Dicaprio & Waltz for Django and the snubs for both Bigelow and Affleck, worth pointing out that members (in most categories) only really get one vote (that counts) in each category. So, for example if Tyler was a member of the acting branch, he’d get up to five picks on his ballot but only one of his choices (at most) would count. So if he had Waltz at #1 and Dicaprio at #2, it’s only his vote for Waltz that would have counted. With directing, Bigelow and Affleck could have been on every director’s ballot but if they weren’t getting the #1 votes or often being placed behind the director’s that got in, none of the votes would have counted. Will never know unless they realise the full voting results but I suspect a lot of snubs/surprises come from the voting system rather than the members making bad choices. Personally I think members should get 5 picks that count in the voting (1 point each) and this would better reflect what the Academy really think are the 5 best achievements in each category.