This time Oscar recognizes Brokeback Mountain (not Crash)!

[TheStudDuck!]

Just found this and wanted to share.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has released its promotional poster for the upcoming Oscars in February and what they've done is made a backdrop with the most famous quotes in film history.  Brokeback Mountain made it into the poster, and as far as I can tell (I may have overlooked it, but I doubt it), Crash isn't anywhere to be found.  In fact, I think Brokeback Mountain is the most recent film to be put on the poster.

If you would like to see it, make sure you are looking at the 1200x1778 resolution photo... otherwise it will be hard to read (for some reason, my computer is wanting to automatically size it down for me).

It's the second one down in the top left-hand corner.  If you were going to read the poster like a page in a book, it's got a prime location.

http://www.oscarwatch.com/images/79aa_poster.jpg

[David]

Some great quotes in there!   

I still don't think i'll watch the Oscars this year.   Yeah, sour grapes.   

[Brown Eyes]

Heya,

Thanks for the info on the poster.  That's great for BBM! 

But, I'm with David... I'm boycotting the Oscars this year too.  I'm not all that interested in the contenders this year in any case.
 

[Ellemeno]

Could AMPAS possibly have given it such primo real estate in reaction to people's upset at BBM losing last year?

[delalluvia]

Heya,

Thanks for the info on the poster.  That's great for BBM! 

But, I'm with David... I'm boycotting the Oscars this year too.  I'm not all that interested in the contenders this year in any case.
 

Thanks for the info.  Ditto for me and the boycott.  No interest in seeing the Awards anymore. 

[Flashframe777]

Thanks,


Yep, boycotting too. 

[Mikaela]

Thank you!  (And being an old Lord of the Rings fan, I was also quite pleased at the big "Frodo" to the right.)

But despite this little consolation prize for BBM the Oscars've lost every onunze of credibility for me. When I read movie magazines now I just flip right past the Oscar speculations which I notice has commenced in earnest. I somehow naively held the opinion that by and large, despite the obvious lobbying and back-scratching going on in previous years, they would in the end nevertheless want to honour the truth and beauty of their own art; - and reward the truly deserving film and actors/actresses. But I'm no more suffering from that grand delusion. And what is the point then? Watching the dresses? Betting on who ran the best campaign, who has delivered just the right level of reasonably safe PC film and performances to make narrow-minded Academy members feel good about themselves when they pass out their awards? Who cares about that? Not me.   

[David]

Tell you what..

Know what would be more fun?     Making a list of those quotes here and name the movie after the quote.  That'll test a few memories!

Here are the First few.  Cut and paste, add another.  Try to keep the list somewhat near the order they are on the poster to make it easier to go back and look.


"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =

"I wish I could quit you!"  =   Brokeback Mountain.

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"  =  Sunset Boulevard.

"ROSEBUD"   =   Citizen Kane.

[Mikaela]

Great idea, actually. (I'm assuming you got the BBM quote intentionally not-quite -right?  )

Anyway, I'm skipping one but I think the one I'm going for here sums up my feeling for the Oscars, so.......


I wish I knew how to quit you - BBM

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore! - Network

[David]

Great idea, actually. (I'm assuming you got the BBM quote intentionally not-quite -right?  )

Anyway, I'm skipping one but I think the one I'm going for here sums up my feeling for the Oscars, so.......


I wish I knew how to quit you - BBM

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore! - Network

OMG!    You are so right!    Take away my Brokie union card!     

[David]

"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"  =   Brokeback Mountain.

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"  =  Sunset Boulevard.

"ROSEBUD"   =   Citizen Kane.

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"  = Network

[TheStudDuck!]

I'm going to opt out of this game since I know about 80% of the quotes from the poster. 

(I will answer one of my favorites, that I was so surprised to see there, which is:  "No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving." -- from Sideways, of course.  Actually, that's not really the good quote, the good one is, "NO!  I AM NOT DRINKING ANY FUCKING MERLOT!" but I guess that couldn't really make the poster, eh?)

[nakymaton]

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"  = Network

I can't read the one below this... can anyone else?

However...

"I'll get you my pretty... and your little dog, too!" = The Wizard of Oz

"Good evening, Clarice." = The Silence of the Lambs (? never seen the movie... cannibals creep me out)

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." = 2001: A Space Odyssey

There are a lot of movies that didn't win Best Picture on there, you know? In a way, the poster is an indirect recognition that the Oscars don't get it right... a lot. (And did you notice how the fonts for the quotes fit the fonts used on the movie posters? Look at the font for BBM. It's obvious for the Star Wars and E.T. quotes, especially.)

(I'm not watching the Oscars this year, either. Bleah.)

[silkncense]

"I coulda been a Contender.  I coulda been somebody.  On the Waterfront

"Frodo" Lord of the Rings

"My momma always said life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're going get."  Forest Gump

[Sashca1007]

I hope you all join in and answer all of these--  I know a good number of them seem really obvious, but there are some that I don't have a clue about, such as:

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush."  (What?  Yet another movie about pitchin' a stinky pup tent without leavin' no signs?  )

Also wondering about "Wind in the hair!  Lead in the pencil!"   


I'll take an easy one:

"What we've got here is failure to communicate."  Cool Hand Luke

And an even easier one: 

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."  Gone with the Wind

[fernly]

Betting on who ran the best campaign, who has delivered just the right level of reasonably safe PC film and performances to make narrow-minded Academy members feel good about themselves when they pass out their awards? Who cares about that? Not me.   

Well-said.

Got so many better things to do with those 3+ hours.

[Front-Ranger]

"The horror. The horror." Apocalypse Now.

"You had me at hello." Jerry Maguire

[TheStudDuck!]

Hey Sascha,

Like I said, I know pretty much all of 'em, even those ones that everyone thinks are obscure (that's what I get for coming into the brokies by strictly being a film geek.)

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush." is from one of my all-time favorite crime movies, L.A. Confidential.  Not only is it a line said often by Danny DeVito's character (a tabloid "journalist"), as it was the slogan for his Hush-Hush Magazine, but it was also the tagline for the film.

  YEE-HAW for great films!  (See L.A. Confidential, it is amazing!)

[silkncense]

LOVED LA Confidential.  Also high on my list. 

On the movie thread I posted Premiere Magazines list of the most over-rated movies of all time.  Check it out.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I watched Trash, can't remember one line of dialogue, not one catch phrase. 

[Sashca1007]

Thanks, StudFilmGeekDuck, for the answer to my 'on the QT/hush-hush' question!  Now, what about that one involving a married man and mascara?!   

[TheStudDuck!]

I do believe the "mascara" quote is from The Apartment.

And as for memorable quotes from Crash, there is one quote that my friend and I always thought was really hilarious and we'll periodically say it and get a good laugh out of it.

The quote being Matt Dillon's Academy Award nominated performance when he says, "Shaniqua?  Big fuckin' surprise, that is!"

[Sashca1007]

Thanks again, Stud-David!

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal."   2001: a Space Odyssey

"They call me Mr. Tibbs!"    In the Heat of the Night

[Ellemeno]

Snap out of it! Moonstruck (love that movie)

You make me want to be a better man. As Good as it Gets

[Front-Ranger]

Show me the money! Jerry Maguire

[Fran]

As Lee pointed out, Jerry McGuire has two:

"Show me the money."

"You had me at hello."

[Kd5000]

Well, given that CRASH had more profanity then practically any other movie released in 2005, I think it would be hard to find a phrase from CRASH that would make the official Oscar poster suitable for office framing.     

I saw the AFI special on the 100 most memorable movie lines. I won the bet with a coworker as a I said #1 was going to be "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."  She thought it was going to be a line from Casablanca. 

[David]

"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =   ________________________?

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"  =   Brokeback Mountain.

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"  =  Sunset Boulevard.

"ROSEBUD"   =   Citizen Kane.

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"  = Network

"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving."  = Sideways,

"I'll get you my pretty... and your little dog, too!" = The Wizard of Oz

"Good evening, Clarice." = The Silence of the Lambs

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." = 2001: A Space Odyssey

"I coulda been a Contender.  I coulda been somebody.  = On the Waterfront

"Frodo" =  Lord of the Rings

"My momma always said life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're going get."   =  Forest Gump

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." =  Cool Hand Luke

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." =  Gone with the Wind

"The horror. The horror."  = Apocalypse Now.

"You had me at hello."  = Jerry Maguire

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush." =  L.A. Confidential

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." =   2001: a Space Odyssey

"They call me Mr. Tibbs!"  =  In the Heat of the Night

"Snap out of it!"   = Moonstruck

"You make me want to be a better man"  =  As Good as it Gets

"Show me the money!"  =  Jerry Maguire

[starboardlight]

I do believe the "mascara" quote is from The Apartment.

I got to see The Apartment this past summer in The Hollywood Cemetery (weekly movies in the cemetery during the summer). It was amazing. Young Jack Lemmon was adorable, and young Shirley MacLaine was absolutely captivating. I highly recommend this film.

[starboardlight]

"Shut up! Shut up and take the pain! Take the pain!" - Platoon.

[starboardlight]

"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =   ________________________?

Lawrence of Arabia

[kirkmusic]

I found a webpage with the sources of all of the quotes on the poster.  I already knew about 2/3 of them.  But I won't spoil it by listing them here.

As far as boycotting the Oscars, come on guys!  The Oscars have never been the last word on film quality and my favorite hardly ever wins.  You just have to take it for what it is.  I've always been a big fan the process of giving out the acting awards; reading the names, showing a clip of the film that reminds you why they were so great (except when they choose a bad clip, and then you can say to your friends "they should have shown the part where..."), and the acceptance speeches, which are hit and miss, but sometimes you get a good one.  Besides, don't you want to be watching if Scorcese finally wins?

Looking at the frontrunners so far, they're all good movies: The Departed, The Queen, Letters from Iwo Jima, Babel (my favorite), United 93, Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls, all of them were at least a 7 to me.  Personally I can't wait to see the nominees and watch the show.  I want to see if Beyonce can pull off "Listen" live.  And if Prince will be nominated for "Song of the Heart" from Happy Feet, and if he performs it if he is.  And what the final nominees for picture and director will be out of a field of 7 or 8 very deserving possibilities.

I have all of the Oscars since 1987 on VHS, except for two years ago when Million Dollar Baby won.  The DVR didn't work for some reason and I didn't mind because that particular broadcast was the most mindnumbingly dull I can remember.  The best was for the 1991 films.  It was Billy Crystal's 3rd year (the best host we've got), the song performances, mostly from Beauty and the Beast, were very good, and overall it was simply more entertaining than other years.  It was the year Silence of the Lambs won all the big ones.

[Front-Ranger]

You have a good point, Kirk.

Does Jack Nicholson have more quotes than anybody else? It looks like it to me.

Where is, "You can't handle the truth?" I thought that one would be there!

[nakymaton]

Looking at the frontrunners so far, they're all good movies: The Departed, The Queen, Letters from Iwo Jima, Babel (my favorite), United 93, Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls

I haven't seen a single one of these, though I wanted to see The Queen. (Well, I saw part of United 93 when my other half rented it and I discovered that I was listening to it. I didn't want to see it.) Most of them have been here and gone, so I'm not going to see any of them. Which means that my boycott of Oscar-bait movies is holding.

(But then, I just plain don't like most Oscar bait. There's only one movie that I genuinely love that's ever won Best Picture, and it was a departure for the Academy. So it isn't as if I'm giving anything up.)

[Ellemeno]

Where is, "You can't handle the truth?" I thought that one would be there!

Our left of Oscar's belly button.

[Ellemeno]

As far as boycotting the Oscars, come on guys!  The Oscars have never been the last word on film quality and my favorite hardly ever wins.  You just have to take it for what it is. 

Okay, now that someone else has said it, I'll say it too.  I'm not going to boycott the Oscars.  I agree that BBM probably lost for all the reasons we have ever discussed, and that sucks, but it doesn't mean I'm not watching anymore.  It wouldn't teach AMPAS any kind of lesson.  It would just mean me missing the fun stuff.  Plus, I plan to be watching the year Kirk wins his first Oscar.

Thanks Kirk, for not bein' a big ol' wuss like I've been.

[Lynne]

Plus, I plan to be watching the year Kirk wins his first Oscar.

There's an excellent point, Elle.  I have never watched the Oscars on purpose, myself, except for last year.  It also occurs to me that Jake and Heath will eventually be nominated again, fine actors that they are.  Then where will the boycotters be?  Torn between a rigid stance on principle and watching our boys being deservedly honored.  For me, at least, supporting the boys in their future work is going to win that one.

[Meryl]

"If you build it, he will come."  Field of Dreams

"Greed is good."  Wall Street

I don't have much of an interest in watching the Oscars, unless it would be to see Helen Mirren win for "The Queen."

One resolution I have kept and will continue to keep is to never watch Ebert & Roeper again.  Their very active campaign for "Crash" to win Best Picture convinced me that they wouldn't know a great film if it came up and bit them on the arse. 

[Mikaela]

I admit I don't think I know more than 70% or so of the poster quotes. But it's one at a time, right, so I'm going with:

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, This is the war room." - Dr. Strangelove, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb."



Concerning my stance on the Oscars, I don't actually consider it "boycotting". To me it's just a reaction to having my naive belief removed that quality and beauty and truth in acting and filmmaking would actually get the reward - that the Oscar truly still managed to "mean" something in that regard  rising above the small-town prejudices, the superficial glamour, the campaigning, the insatiable need for empty entertainment news to be yacked out to fill the papers and TV screens, the whole general "Razzle-dazzle". I don't see it like that any more. I must admit that I was also very disappointed when Fellowship of the Ring didn't win back in the day (I still think that's the one of the 3 "Rings" films that deserved the Oscar, rather than Return of the King) - but "A beautiful Mind" on all accounts also was a worthy winner if not my favourite by a long shot. Also there was the possibility of an award down the line at the end of the "Rings" trilogy, and at any rate and most importantly "Fellowship" lost because of prejudices against Fantasy films rather than because of something as serious and insupportable as homophobia; -  so my pathetic little illusions weren't shattered then. Now they have been.

I look at what you say.......;

It also occurs to me that Jake and Heath will eventually be nominated again, fine actors that they are.  Then where will the boycotters be?  Torn between a rigid stance on principle and watching our boys being deservedly honored.

I don't have much of an interest in watching the Oscars, unless it would be to see Helen Mirren win for "The Queen."

...and I realize; yes. I'd like to see Heath and Jake being awarded and I'd sure like to see Helen Mirren being honoured for "the Queen". My problem however is that I honestly don't see the Oscar as a badge of quality anymore, something that really signifies the kind of appreciation and honour I'd like these people to have. That's just gone.

That's sad to me because I'm the kind of person to get very involved in certain films and to cheer them on and to enjoy all the mention they get in the pre-Oscar races and such. Part of the point is, I think, that I've wanted to let certain actors and filmmakers know how much their film meant to *me* - how much their efforts and message moved and inspired *me*. Since I can't get to ever communicate that in person (and would be struck dumb if I ever had the chance  ), I'd until last year considered the Oscars as *the* stand-in symbol of appreciation being handed over on behalf of ordinary moviegoers like me.  And now, almost one year down the line from last year's travesty, I realize that symbolism's gone for good. The Oscar last year became the symbol of people with prejudices that I do not at all want to represent me.

But then, of course, there's still the entertainment value....

The Oscars have never been the last word on film quality and my favorite hardly ever wins.  You just have to take it for what it is. 

Yes, I've been thinking that nevertheless it's still Entertainment with a capital E. It's fun and so forth. There's no reason to take it all so deathly seriously, the way I do. But I think that after having seen Heath Ledger having to sit through that ceremony last year, it just can't be plain *fun* for me anymore. I felt so badly for him and I still do. For some reason I feel worse for him than for the rest of the BBM crew. Maybe because it's so obvious he's uncomfortable with that kind of show, maybe because he's the one of the nominated actors/actresses I thought deserved the award the most.... maybe because since his *is* the main part in BBM,  and that out of the blue he created and delivered a performance that I still almost can't *believe*........  Anyway, to me the "Best Picture" award would also have been a special acknowledgement of Ennis, as well as an encouragement to the real Ennises in this world, and the Crash win seemed such a slap in all their faces that the Oscars stopped being entertaining to me as of that moment. Watching actors I'd like to see profoundly thanked and honoured being trotted out for big Entertainment to be slapped in the face by bigots like that while having to smile as polite "losers" do - it hurts. It's not entertaining anymore, if it ever was.

*Sigh*

I'm not trying to convince anyone else here. I'm sure as heck not advocating a campaign to "boycott  the Oscars!". I'm just explaining my position. Which has to do with much more than boycotting in order to send a message. I don't think such a message would penetrate with the AMPAS anyhow.

[David]

Revised : Thursday AM


"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =  Lawrence of Arabia

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"  =   Brokeback Mountain.

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"  =  Sunset Boulevard.

"ROSEBUD"   =   Citizen Kane.

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"  = Network

"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving."  = Sideways,

"I'll get you my pretty... and your little dog, too!" = The Wizard of Oz

"Good evening, Clarice." = The Silence of the Lambs

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." = 2001: A Space Odyssey

"I coulda been a Contender.  I coulda been somebody.  = On the Waterfront

"Frodo" =  Lord of the Rings

"My momma always said life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're going get."   =  Forest Gump

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." =  Cool Hand Luke

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." =  Gone with the Wind

"The horror. The horror."  = Apocalypse Now.

"You had me at hello."  = Jerry Maguire

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush." =  L.A. Confidential

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." =   2001: a Space Odyssey

"They call me Mr. Tibbs!"  =  In the Heat of the Night

"Snap out of it!"   = Moonstruck

"You make me want to be a better man"  =  As Good as it Gets

"Show me the money!"  =  Jerry Maguire

"Shut up! Shut up and take the pain! Take the pain!" =  Platoon.

"If you build it, he will come." = Field of Dreams

"Greed is good."  =  Wall Street

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, This is the war room." = Dr. Strangelove

"I'm the King of the World!"  =  Titanic

       Keep em coming gang!

[Mikaela]

Thanks for the list, would be more than difficult to keep track of this otherwise!  OK, one more from me and one of the really obvious ones:

The force is strong with this one - Star Wars (Episode IV, A new hope)


(If I'm not mistaken that was the one which was actually up for a BP, so I'm going with that although they keep making similar comments on the strength of the Force in the main protagonist in all of the SW films as far as I can recall.)

[David]

Where is this one?

"Badges?  Badges?   We don't need no stinking badges!"

- Treasure of the Sierra Madre

[Meryl]

What Mikaela said!  Great post. 

Watching actors I'd like to see profoundly thanked and honoured being trotted out for big Entertainment to be slapped in the face by bigots like that while having to smile as polite "losers" do - it hurts. It's not entertaining anymore, if it ever was.

Amen.  The awards ceremony is not just silly and pretentious and boring any more.  I have to add "painful" to that list. 

[David]

In my opinion, the Oscars were a Gala event.    The elite of elite dressed in their finest were there to honour and be honoured.    Great movies were chosen.  We saw clips and honoured those who has passed on in the year.   

I almost puked when "It's hard to be a pimp" was the featured song performed.

But when it was mentioned post Oscars about how voting members didn't have to watch all the movies, or that Crash was allowed to mail out extra DVD copies right before the voting just smacked me of improper and betrayal of the system.

No,  now that I know the event is rigged, I wont watch it any more.

[silkncense]

"Attica.  Attica"  - Attica (?)

"Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle" - Chicago

"Think you have enough dynamite there, Butch?" Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

"ET phone home" - ET

"Von Trapp children don't play.  They march"  Sound of Music

"I'm goina make him an offer he can't refuse" The Godfather

The Oscars?? - Just not the same anymore.  I may watch the lead-in (love the clothes & looks).  May watch the opening / may not.  But I won't even pretend it actually represents the best ever again.

[Front-Ranger]

"Stella!" Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

"Frailty, thy name is woman" Macbeth

Ones they left out:

"It would be a sweet life" Brokeback Mountain

[nakymaton]

"Stella!" Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Isn't that A Streetcar Named Desire?

[Shakesthecoffecan]

As far as boycotting the Oscars, I kind of will, but it will be hard to distinguish it from my pre-brokeback IGNORING of the Oscars. I'd rather watch a rerun of the Simpsons than watch those overdressed people parade down the red carpet and be asked "who they're wearing? ".

[Flashframe777]

I actually enjoyed "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" by Three Six Mafia...not the actual performance or song, but the unlikelihood of its chances for a win.  I got a kick out of it.  It kind of helped to underscore the Academy's fear of a "Gay" Best Picture.  The Academy members  were just trying to appear to be cool with Race, to compensate for how uncool they are with Homosexuality.  Funny how it works that way in Government as well Entertainment  - closeted homosexuals do everything to defeat anything sympathetic to gays.

Nah, I'll pass on the Oscars for now.

[Front-Ranger]

Isn't that A Streetcar Named Desire?

Oh jeez, I will have to look that up. Tennessee Williams vehicles get me confused.

Meanwhile, there's another one they left out:

"As long as we can ride it. There ain't no reins on this one." Brokeback Mountain

I love that he says "it" because they're on one horse and the horse's name is love.

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

I am excited to see that a Brokeback quote is on the poster!  And it's such an adorable quote too... *sigh*

You know, if the contenders for 2007 intrigue me, I may watch the Oscars. But it's been such a dull year in films, and the movies that I did like (i.e. The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine) probably won't be in the running. (I haven't seen Babel yet though.)

The main reason I dislike the Academy is not because Brokeback lost. It's because of the campaigning, which I think sways voters and makes the race unfair. I mean, I can understand that films are submitted and what not, but I think that the voting system should be like, "Vote for your nominees" and the most popular ones are the nominees. Then, of those nominees, winners are chosen based on artistic merit, not bias. I assume there's a hell of a lot of bias in the Academy, because the Academy is comprised of Hollywood people. It should consist of people who aren't friends with Steven Speilberg or whoever yet know a hell of a lot about filmmaking. So, I don't know, professors at really prestigious film schools?

Furthermore, the Academy NEVER awards the movie I want to win, from The Hours (though Chicago was great), to Moulin Rouge, to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, to Beauty and the Beast (Silence of the Lambs was also great), to Saving Private Ryan (or anything aside from Shakespeare in Love), to our beloved Brokeback Mountain...

[nakymaton]

The main reason I dislike the Academy is not because Brokeback lost. It's because of the campaigning, which I think sways voters and makes the race unfair.

Yeah. And it's not just the campaigning... it's the dirty campaigning. Even when my horse won the race (Return of the King in 2003), the campaign was just nasty. All sorts of attempts to bash the other movies without actually bashing them, rumors flying around that the actors branch wouldn't go for this, or the effects people wouldn't go for that. I felt sick after the whole thing was done. (And it wasn't helped by the nastiness around the 2001 campaign, bashing A Beautiful Mind underhandedly. I mean, I thought the movie was mediocre and didn't deserve to win -- in fact, I would have happily seen any of the other nominees win -- but the campaigning was nasty.) And then seeing how BBM lost, with the rumors that Crash would win cropping up before voting closed, as if everyone was picking up on the hint that there was a way to be politically correct and homophobic at the same time... ugh.

I'm not sure it would be any better with film professors picking winners, though. Or critics. Every major award has politics and bias surrounding it, from the Oscars to the Nobel Prize in Physics. Some awards I often agree with, but a lot of them I take with a major grain of salt. (Grammys? They never choose music that I like, so I ignore them. Pulitzer Prize? Sometimes I agree, but I don't decide what books or newspapers to read based on what wins. Nobel Prize? They get it right when something is so big that it can't be ignored, like, say, the Theory of Relativity. But I couldn't tell you the winner of a single Nobel prize in any of the sciences in the past ten years. They don't give Nobel prizes in my field, true, but still, anything really significant in chemistry or physics trickles down to us.)

[Front-Ranger]

Another missing quote:

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Chinatown

[Brown Eyes]

I have a potentially scary question... Has anyone heard any rumors about either Heath or Jake (or both) presenting at any upcoming award shows?

By the way Lee, this is adorable....
 

I love that he says "it" because they're on one horse and the horse's name is love.

[Ellemeno]

I have a potentially scary question... Has anyone heard any rumors about either Heath or Jake (or both) presenting at any upcoming award shows?
 

I'll let you know if they are there.

What I'm starting to understand from reading all the posts here is the level of caring some of you had about the Oscars in the past.  I was never very invested in it.  And I got jaded way young on the idea of elections being swayed, so I'm not surprised about that.  I have a pretty shallow view of the whole thing, and mostly just want to see the older "movie stars." the few who are still around.

Since the confession is being good for my soul, and we're in this topic's neighborhood, I'll admit that though I didn't see Crash (and still feel quite grrrr toward it), I did love the song "In the Deep" from it that Kathleen York wrote and sang at the Oscars.  I downloaded it that night from iTunes and have played it many times.  It goes very well with "Spiritual" by Charlie Hayden and Pat Metheny (Annie Proulx's dozy embrace song), and "Mad World" from Donnie Darko.  I learned all three of these songs this year through you, my friends.

[Mikaela]

Presenting at the Oscars - of those two it would be Jake I'm sure. But he presented something or other last year, didn't he - so possibly not. Now if Zodiac is released just before the actual Oscars ceremony, and that films gets goods reviews and attention and publicity for him, then possibly Jake might be asked to present again for being in the public eye just then.....
I can't recall the most recent release date for Zodiac, it's been moved so many times. 

I'm not sure it would be any better with film professors picking winners, though. Or critics. Every major award has politics and bias surrounding it, from the Oscars to the Nobel Prize in Physics.

I think it would be much worse if professors of critics picked the winners. The great thing about the Oscars IMO is the fact that the films or rather the actors and directors etc are voted for and awarded by their peers - and that the voting is secret. It made me beleive that all these people would both recognize and want to show appreciation for true artistry in their own field when they saw it; - and that despite any obligations and campaigning and favours owed enough of them would also actually *vote* for that excelllence, since noone would know for sure how they voted anyway. That was when I still naively believed that they at least watched the films nominated in the major categories before casting their votes, of course.  I still think that if everyone who voted had actually sat down and watched BBM, BBM would have won BP last year.

[David]

Revised : Saturday 12/30/06

"No prisoners,  no prisoners!" =  Lawrence of Arabia

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"  =   Brokeback Mountain.

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"  =  Sunset Boulevard.

"ROSEBUD"   =   Citizen Kane.

"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"  = Network

"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving."  = Sideways,

"I'll get you my pretty... and your little dog, too!" = The Wizard of Oz

"Good evening, Clarice." = The Silence of the Lambs

"I coulda been a Contender.  I coulda been somebody.  = On the Waterfront

"Frodo" =  Lord of the Rings

"My momma always said life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're going get."   =  Forest Gump

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." =  Cool Hand Luke

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." =  Gone with the Wind

"The horror. The horror."  = Apocalypse Now.

"You had me at hello."  = Jerry Maguire

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush." =  L.A. Confidential

"Open the pod bay doors, Hal." =   2001: a Space Odyssey

"They call me Mr. Tibbs!"  =  In the Heat of the Night

"Snap out of it!"   = Moonstruck

"You make me want to be a better man"  =  As Good as it Gets

"Show me the money!"  =  Jerry Maguire

"Shut up! Shut up and take the pain! Take the pain!" =  Platoon.

"If you build it, he will come." = Field of Dreams

"Greed is good."  =  Wall Street

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, This is the war room." = Dr. Strangelove

"I'm the King of the World!"  =  Titanic

"The force is strong with this one"  - Star Wars (Episode IV, A new hope)

"Attica.  Attica"  - Attica (?)

"Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle"  =  Chicago

"Think you have enough dynamite there, Butch?" =  Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

"ET phone home" =  ET

"Von Trapp children don't play.  They march" = Sound of Music

"I'm goina make him an offer he can't refuse" =  The Godfather

"Stella!" =  A streetcar named Desire

"Frailty, thy name is woman" = Macbeth

Keep em coming gang!

[Lynne]

"Here's looking at you, kid." is from Casablanca.

Since the confession is being good for my soul, and we're in this topic's neighborhood, I'll admit that though I didn't see Crash...

I did see Crash, mainly because pre-BBM obsession, an interest of mine was LA as a setting, even a character, in film and novels - think Raymond Chandler, Nathaniel West, LA Confidential, etc.  It was a mediocre movie - watch it if it's on and you have nothing better to do, but don't expect much.  Both Capote and Munich were far superior works also.