Monty the Cat Pundit Smells a Jennifer Aniston Surprise!
Friday, December 5, 2014 at 10:00PM Monty is getting on in years and has all but retired from Oscar punditry. When I show him my swag in the hopes that he'll reveal some innate feline wisdom about awards season these days he looks away with disdain, grumpier than ever. He's even ignored all the boxes which must be like an alcoholic strolling past an open bar without stopping.
But FINALLY engagement. This week he lept with glee into a box containing various Into the Woods substances (I wasn't quick enough with the camera but he obviously approves. Does this mean that Into the Woods can muscle into the Best Picture race after all (it's kind of a toss-up right?) or is it just a reminder that Monty has a thing for musicals? His first Oscar call ever was Best Original Song for Björk in Dancer in the Dark (2000) when he was just a 2 year-old. He would race to the CD player (remember those?) whenever it came on and plant himself there.
And tonight, the most curiousity yet this season as he began circling one of three new packages He would barely let me touch it. What's it for?
Oh oh Cinelou films, okay. Does this mean that Jennifer Aniston will be a surprise Best Actress nominee?
Or is this just another reminder that cats really love their dairy. Frosting forever!
You decide in the comments.
pssst. OSCAR CHART UPDATES IN ALL CATEGORIES START TOMORROW
Reader Comments (39)
time to ship some pastries, grand budapest hotel
LOL!
is this a bribe??? LOL
Aniston????????? You must be joking.
I believe in this case Monty is suffering from a strong appetitive bias. I'm afraid I can't rely on his choice.
I think Aniston's a Globe (nod) lock and a strong sleeper contender for SAG and BFCA nods. Remember Beckinsale for Nothing but the Truth? Swank for Conviction? Aniston is bound to hit the sweet spot for one of those groups. BAFTA won't bite, if Cake is even eligible there.
I wouldn't predict her for an Oscar nomination (yet) but I don't think the Globes are it for her.
Lol. Are they really campaigning for Aniston? It is too on the nose, is it?
I haven't seen the movie yet but was cake featured prominently or just a title? If it is just the title, this campaign is really lmao.
So that makes your cat 15-16 years old? Jeeez.
Is he still going strong? Any physical difficulties? I remember when my cat was 14 she couldn't jump anymore, couldn't jump up in the sofa, or on chairs, or in bed, very sad.
About Aniston; I don't care for her, she seems very boring IRL, zero personality, and she's not beautiful. AND she's not a good actress ( anymore - I liked her for the first three seasons of Friends, I don't know what happened after that ).
Since Aniston can't depend on talent, which she has none of, she depends on bribes, sounds about right. She handed out "bribes" to the Friend's writers too, except those she did on her back or her knees, which, no doubt she'll use for this campaign too.
Um, is 'Hayden W,' the guy that wrote the post about Aniston being a 'lock' (up top) also Aniston's PR flack? Or maybe her PR flack's interns more likely.... maybe it's their job to go around writing insanity on websites in the hopes someone gets fooled and thinks there's a groundswell for a movie and performance hype that Aniston literally had to buy herself. That someone would have to be living on the moon with no Wi-Fi though. Aniston was the least talented on Friends so no way this is even possible. So uh, no. Aniston is sooooo embarrassing. I was at TIFF when this was shown, got a free ticket, I fell asleep, and her acting was uninspired and like Rachel Green on Friends with no makeup. Every other actor in the movie was better than her (no mean feat) and it was still a bad movie.There was no one talking about her or this movie except to say it wasn't good..i know her 'people' are trying to pretend Toronto was great for her but I was there... it was not. This is all manufactures hype, no substance much like those cupcakes. Don't let your cat get sick by swallowing any of it. Lol
Yeah..Cotilliard, Moore, Chastain, Streep.... and Aniston? It's gonna take a lot more than cupcakes to get that nightmare realized... maybe some hallucinatory drug baked in the cupcakes... are they made with hashish? Aniston is fine in ensemble sitcoms, but unfortunately pretty sure that's the extent of her talents - she's no Lisa Kudrow or Courtney Cox in my opinion, they've at least shown they can carry shows on their own. Kudrow is fantastic in both her web series and The Comeback on HBO, I wish she'd do more film work. I'd like a break from the constant Aniston over-hype.
If she gets nominated, I can imagine your "why-she-got-nominated" percentages for Aniston would say, "3%: Monty the Cat-Pundit's endorsement."
dont forget reese or hillary swank - unlikely though they may be - even amy adams i think
Wow loons are losing their minds. Aniston is not doing anything different from all those campaigning. In the same article it stated other movies like into the woods gifts as well.
Stop with your jealousy which won't take any of you anywhere. If she deserves a nod none of you can do anything about it
it so sad how far haters and brangelina fans will go to denigrate Ms. Aniston. she earned all the Oscar buzz based on her performance and she is now top 2-6 on some pundit lists
Keith Simanton
Managing Editor, IMDb
Keith Simanton @imdbkeith 4m4 minutes ago
Know that crazy talk about Jennifer Aniston getting nom'd for Best Actress for CAKE? Not crazy. At all. She's daring, practical, blunt & great.
keith has jen at #2 right now
[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/dggvx3.jpg[/IMG]
awardscircuit has her at #5
2015 OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST ACTRESS
5. Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Serving Cinema also has her at #5
@servingcinema 2h2 hours ago
@pedropinheiroo My predictions at the moment are: 1) Moore 2) Witherspoon 3) Pike 4) Cotillard 5) Aniston
Variety @Jenielle Riley
5) Jennifer Aniston
Gold derby @Tom O'Neil
5)Jennifer Aniston
The Hollywood Reporter @@scottfeinberg
6)Jennifer Aniston
Wow, some of these comments are just gross. I'd be surprised if Jennifer Aniston made it into the top 5, but it seems like enough buzz is building around the performance to make it a possibility. I haven't seen the movie, but she must be doing something right to make people who normally don't care for her (like Nathaniel) give her props. Calm down people.
Jen Aniston is campaigning just like other contenders. nothing new that gifts are sent out to voters by all contenders during award season so get a grip people and stop being pathetic.
I guess all contenders bribe eh?
what is also disguising is the owner of award watch outed him/herself last night when discussing about Jennifer with Awardcircuit and Serving Cinema about the disdain this person has for her that's why she isn't on the list at award watch.
Woah, so much animosity for comparing Aniston's chances of an Oscar nomination to Kate Beckinsale or Hilary Swank in 2008, by which I mean she is famous and liked and gave a performance on the fringe of the conversation. Miranda Priestly: *am I reaching for the stars?*
I think by now, (unless your performance is as towering as those like Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine or Monique in Precious) in the realm of the Oscarsphere, the politics is part of the performance. I just want Cake to be good.
At this point I will be shocked not to see Aniston in top 5. there are many who predicted her in top 10 before thanksgiving and now top 2-6 on their list that very impressive
Better Aniston than Swank!
Her Oscar Consultant is Lisa Taback who is known for backing and supporting good quality Indies movies that she feels aren't getting any love and are awards worthy. if Jennifer/Cake wasn't any good as her detractors suggest she wouldn't have been on board in the first place so yall should take a chill pill and have some sleep. as someone said if she is meant to have a nomination nothing anyone can do about it. she deserves it
colllins & guest -- yes, gifts is nothing new and certainly not just CAKE. Generally speaking the films that send the most gifts are the frontrunners and the animated features. Not sure why that is but that's the way it is. Cinelou has actually done very little for Jennifer Aniston comparatively speaking but they're operating on a tiny budget since it's not a major release.
What are they using to promote Hilary Swank's performance in The Homesman? Horse shit, perhaps?
billy - LOL. no gifts beyond the screener from The Homesman ;)
But clearly what is most important here is the adorable picture of the cat. Look at that punim!
Actually some voters have been sent a bottle of "moonshine" for The Homesman/Swank - an HFPA voter posted a pic of it amongst other contender swag
Guest -- good to know! I'm only in BFCA and we didn't get that ;) which is okay since i've been plied by more than enough booze this season already. I swear Unbroken is trying to take advantage of me by keeping me liquored up.
Your cat looks so cute and charming, Nat. =^.^=
How very Tracy Flick of Aniston. She really really wants that nom!
Nathaniel-I mean, getting liquored up by the lads from Unbroken-there are worse things in life. ;)
Isn't it completely inappropriate of Jolie and Unbroken to send bottles of liquor? Zamp struggled with alcoholism and overcame it. He spoke of it extensively during his inspirational speaker days.
Gigi - no no. sorry to mislead. they didn't sent bottles of liquour. They just have had lots of parties this week after screenings.
These are some of my favorite posts of the year. Monty4Eva!
"I don't care for her, she seems very boring IRL, zero personality, and she's not beautiful."
Ummm what kind of misogynistic way of talking down about someone...
I am shocked at this serious hate for Aniston. I'm not a huge fan, but I mean, if she gave a good performance (which I've heard she does) why begrudge her success? I'd much rather her or Swank be nominated than Amy Adams to be quite honest.
This post made my day. Love me some Monty ;)
Finally Monty! I was already waiting for him. Hope he is doing well!
"what is also disguising is the owner of award watch outed him/herself last night when discussing about Jennifer with Awardcircuit and Serving Cinema about the disdain this person has for her that's why she isn't on the list at award watch." - nene
Can't believe I JUST saw this, thanks for the head's up Joey @ Serving Cinema. Let me address it here so that nene can maybe have some understanding of my position. I didn't and won't jump on the Aniston Oscar bandwagon because I don't think she's getting in, it's that simple. Cake was a movie that was met with middling response at Toronto and that NO ONE bought. The producers created their own distributor for the film. I think that's great, I have no issues there. Then Pete Hammond, from Deadline, wrote that Aniston is a surefire Oscar contender and the avalanche started. It became a performance and 'Cinderella' story of hype and it steamrolled.
Aniston is taking a page from Diane Ladd and Sally Kirkland with her grassroots campaign and it's paid off for her so far. But it's extraordinarily rare for the Globes drama best actress and SAG lists to be perfectly aligned with Oscar. That goes for any acting category. 5/5 is a rarity, which means someone is always on the outside. I think it's Aniston. If I'm wrong it's on me and no one else. Sure, I don't like Aniston but that doesn't mean I would not predict her if I thought she was getting in. I just honestly don't think she is. I don't like Felicity Jones but I know she's getting in. Be careful not to simply think that MY personal feelings dictate how I predict, because they don't.
Snaps for Miss Erik!
I'd say you have a point re: Globes/Oscar not always lining up, but she also has SAG. And the eye of the public AND voters in the palm of her hand. This is a performance riding the spotlight on headlines. It's being pushed by the trades, Aniston is campaigning her ass off, and it's a genuinely fantastic performance that's right up The Academy's alley. She's a commercial force with broad appeal. I think she actually might *win* SAG.
Also: PETE HAMMOND DID NOT START BUZZ FOR HER I DID ON THAT PODCAST. Ok so only 5 people listened to it BUT I WANT MY CREDIT. Remember when you made fun of me for saying I bawled in the theater at TIFF? I BOUGHT IT, MISS ERIK. I BOUGHT IT!