Bette still has heart (but the voice is flattening out).

Bette Midler is just the best, and I am trying to figure out any notable snubs

I agree SC.

Goldie Haw is also looking plastic no?



TIS

Travolta is another as well

Yea, Travolta's hair looks different every time I see him.




TIS

Yeah, I don't know if I read it before or just guessing that he wears a wig.

Maybe it's hair transplants in progress. Poor JT.

Well, at least now I remember why it had been so long since the last time I watched the Oscars.

American cinema is a complete joke, 98% trash. The Oscars haven't been relevant amongst true film connoisseurs since at least the mid 60s.

All & all I think it was a good Oscar show (even tho I haven't seen any of the movies). Part of the fun is looking at the fashion. I didn't see any really horrible dresses this year. Not all were wonderful, but nothing stood out as terrible.


I think prediction was that Gravity would win, which shows predictions are NOT always correct.



TIS

Gravity was the only halfway decent film that was nominated. And even in Gravity's case. It was a good film, but suffered from the excruciatingly contrived American acting (or lack thereof), courtesy of that guy who does the really bad Cary Grant impression & the homely looking woman from Speed.

^^Who invited that guy to the party?

Evidently not a fan of America cinema.




TIS

The Wizard of OZ..

Maybe next year for Leo..Superb actor. The Oscars is a farce in anycase..

Well originally yes, but each nominated song is from a movie from that year (2013) and I was wondering which movie it was from. Unless the song was just included as a past Oscar song. I missed the introduction. Now that I think about it, I'm guessing it was just an "extra" song and not from a current movie.

And yes, poor Leo is nominated so many times and never seems to win.


TIS

It was part of the 75th anniversary celebration of "The Wizard of Oz" and a homage to Judy Garland. Remember, Whoopi Goldberg introduced that segment while showing she was wearing red shoes.

I am surprised that they didn't have a celebration for 'Gone with the Wind', 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', and 'Stagecoach'

Absolutely. 1939 was the greatest year in Hollywood history.

I haven't seen enough of the Nominees yet to say what should've won, but i did prefer Wolf of Wall Street to 12 Years a Slave. Loved Mcqueens Shame, but not a fan of Hunger or 12 Years. Also what was so special about Leto in Dallas Buyers CLub? It certainly wasn't a bad performance, but i would've preffered Fassbender, was fine with either McConaughey or Dicaprio winning.

Overall i'd say it was quite a good year for the Oscars, but i'd still prefer them taking foreign language films into consideration more. Out of the films i've seen so far, i'd say Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster was my favourite from last year.

Dallas buyer's club was a huge joke in & of itself, particularly to the community that it attempted to reach out towards.

Leto (shockingly) isn't necessarily a poor actor, but that was a goofball role & performance, chock full of every negative stereotype that exists about transgendered individuals.

His acceptance speech (thankfully the only part of the ceremony I caught) was absolutely cringe worthy.

What was your favourite film from last year Huron?

The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino finally Oscar for best foreign language film after 16 years after Life Is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.

Some news on Academy Awards and Italy

First Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as Special/Honorary Award in 1947 for Sciuscià (Shoe-Shine) of Vittoria De sica, first Academy Award of Merit for Federico Fellini's La Strada in 1956;

First Italian actress to win an Oscar: Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo (1955)
First Italian Actor to win a Oscar: Roberto Benigni for The Life is Beautiful

Best Italian directors to have won the most Oscars

Deaths

Vittorio De Sica
(1946,1948,1965,1972)

Federico Fellini
(1957,1958,1964,1975, Academy Honorary Award 1993)

Living

Sofia Loren
Best Actress 1962,Academy Honorary Award 1991)
Bernando Bertolucci
(2 Oscar for the Last Emperor in 1988)
Roberto Benigni
(2 Oscar for the Life is Beautiful in 1998)
Gabriele Salvatores in 1992 for Mediterraneo
Giuseppe Tornatore in 1990 for New Paradise Cinema
Paolo Sorrentino for The Great Beauty in 2014

Best Country for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film won: Italy with 14 Oscars.

'The Great Beauty' was easily better than any films nominated for the "grand prize". I'm not even a huge fan of Italian cinema, but guys like Sorrentino are making it relevant again. I've seen 'The Great Beauty' twice now on the big screen, and it just gets better & more magical with each viewing. I didn't think it was the best film of the year, but good for Sorrentino & co.

It's funny because 'Life Is Beautiful' is NOT a great film by any means (Benigni does not produce quality), not even remotely close to being one of the best Italian films of the past twenty years, and yet it won at the Oscars.

La Strada, Nights Of Cabiria, 8 1/2, nor Amarcord aren't really close to Fellini's masterpiece (Julieta), and yet those four won while Julieta was ignored by the academy.

'The Last Emperor' was arguably Bertolucci's worst film, and yet it won unanimously, while 'The Conformist' & '1900' were unanimously given the cold shoulder by the American critics.

Rossellini should have won at least ONCE during his prime, and Visconti should have received at least a few of the nods De Sica (overrated) & Fellini received.

But the American academy forever swings & has forever swung from the nuts of whatever picture is trending at that very moment, or from whichever filmmaker/producer is putting in the most work in order to gain their worthless favour. I wouldn't be surprised if the panel isn't even viewing any of these films.

I saw the Last Emperor and I don't agree with you Huron,maybe for the Life is Beautiful,that isn't a great movie,but do you see 1900 ? Io do,and I assure you that he had been called "the bigger Communist movie, made with U.S. dollars" or something like that, then the Oscar, it won't never won the Oscar.
if we want to talk about what movie would have deserved to win the Oscar,for sure the Leopard,The Damned or Ludwig of Visconti,maybe the Dolce Vita of Fellini and recently The Son's Room of Nanni Moretti,to give some examples.

I didn't say 'The Last Emperor' was a bad film. I enjoyed it well enough. It looked very pretty (as all Bertolucci films do). I just didn't think it offered much beyond the lavish visuals & sweeping camera work. I found it to be emotionally pretty hollow. I'm not a die hard Bertolucci fan to begin with though, and 'The Conformist' & '1900' are the only films of his that I can honestly say I was very, very impressed with.

Regarding '1900', that was my point: political beliefs/integrity/who kisses the most American capitalist butt shouldn't get in the American Academy's way of judging great films.

Agree to disagree on 'Life Is Beautiful'. I cannot stand that man lol. To each their own.

'The Damned' should have most certainly won that year. Visconti's masterpiece, no doubt. I actually find 'The Leopard' to be overrated compared to his other works. Yes, I've seen the 204 minute final cut lol. It just didn't affect me in the ways the truly great films do. Besides 'The Damned', I'd have to say Viscontis best is 'The Stranger'. It was critically destroyed upon it's release, but I truly think it's his second best. See it if you haven't. His third best would have to be 'Death In Venice'. 'Rocco & His Brothers' is a distant fourth. Those are the four Visconti films that were truly transcendent for me. I actually recently started a thread on the man himself recently, but no one has posted in it yet. Lol.

The best motion pictures I saw in 2013 that were produced in 2013:

The very best:
'New World' (South Korea) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2625030/
'Metro Manila' (Philippines/UK) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1845838/
'The Past' (Iran/France) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404461/

The great:
'Moon Indigo' (France) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2027140/
'On The Job' (Philippines) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2717558/
'The Great Beauty' (Italy) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2358891/

The very good:
'Snowpiercer' (South Korea/US) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/
'10,000 Hours' (Philippines) (hasn't received international release yet) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2995148/