Burning Questions: What Explains the Extremely Loud Nomination?

Michael C. here to take a shot at one of the curious questions that came out of the Oscar nominations. 

A little over a year ago I published a post in which I tried to determine just how bad could a film be and still make the big category. In an attempt to squeeze popular opinion into chart form I subjected the last decade of nominees to an extremely unscientific examination wherein I averaged their Metacritic rating with their Rotten Tomatoes rating to come up with a rough measurement of a film’s critical reception. You can read the full post here but one of the main conclusions I reached was that the Best Picture minimum was set right about the 60% mark. This was the average Blind Side and The Reader, the two worst reviewed nominees, had received. It was a result that jibed pretty well with intuition. It’s tough to think of a nominee that received a resoundingly negative reception. 

But this then begs the question: How exactly did Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close manage a Best Picture nomination? I know critics don't get a vote but rarely, if ever, has the gap between the two been this glaring.

more after the jump

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SAG Live Blog: Bridesmaids, Silent Stars and The Help

6:30 I was writing an (unrelated) short little note about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy moments ago and am suddenly thrust onto a red carpet with fast talking E! reporters uttering inanities while stars explain who they're wearing. These are things old spies never have to think about. But tonight is not about the spies. It's about bridesmaids, silent film stars, time travelling writers, Hawaiian land barons and maids. The first four things I hear are two engagement stories (good news for Bridesmaids or mere coincidence?), one ode to George Clooney via The Good Wife herself. Then Octavia Spencer --  love that bun (is there are name for those high buns on steroids?) -- announcing that she's robbed Cougar Town of Josh.

Which begs the question: Is anyone in Hollywood not friends with Octavia Spencer?

6:37 Armie Hammer on his wife's bakery. He's not the baker, he's the, uh, taster. The reporter or his wife I can't recall calls this "out of the closet taster?" which he confirms. I'm not making this up. 

I'm an out of the closet taster and Elizabeth is the master baker: lemon pies, tiramisu, many cupcakes. Let's just say we now have the most special red velvet recipe there is. 

For some reason when he's talking about food it sounds utterly filthy. I'm having a flashback to Rock Hudson talking about recipes in that one movie. 

6:40 Rose Byrne is wearing a sparkly jumpsuit and reminding me that she is Australian. I always forget the she's Australian and that jumpsuits exist. The latter by choice.  Although she says Scarface was her inspiration and I can sort of see Michelle Pfeiffer circa 1983 in this look. The BEST part is when she leaves the reporter who is going to commercial and Glenn Close (Damages reunion!) looks her jumpsuit up and down... more than once. She doesn't know what to make of it until...

No, she definitely doesn't like it. Hee.

6:53 Viola Davis is talking about her new daughter. I didn't realize she had adopted. Somewhere I missed that. She sounds happy and nervous and she definitely isn't completely comfortable in her Jimmy Choos. Since we're talking about feet, I feel the need to share this photo.

Regina King tweeted "toes done" an hour ago.

I did not retouch this photo so either her camera phone has some issues or her feet are sunburned. Ouch. Put some aloe vera on that. If feet horrify you I apologize. But, true story, it's how I remembered it was time to live blog.

This live blog is brought to you Regina King's pedicure.

7:02 Jonah Hill says everyone can't believe he was Oscar nominated. To his credit he says that he can't believe it either so he understands.

7:08 Michelle Williams, who clearly does not like talking to reporters about her personal life, does a pretty good job of pretending to be okay with it whilst astrally projecting herself away. I'm reasonably certain she was floating somewhere over Montana whilst Guiliana was inundating her with questions about child rearing.

much more after the jump

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Australia and Park City Dole Out "Best" Prizes

Nicole says "Hi!"DGA and SAG (tonight!) awards just aren't enough prize-giving for one weekend so let's talk two more.

AUSTRALIA via WEST HOLLYWOOD
Have you ever heard of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Awards? Neither have I. It's okay because they're newborn babes in the awards woods. Apparently they eyed an empty clearing in the great forest of movie awards and voila! (Seriously why are there so few awards shows? Magical unicorns they are.)

The great unsolved mystery of all of these organizations that have been popping up (I'd like to see a study but it does seem like each year brings at least one new organization along with it) is this: how do they get the celebrities to show? Even brand new ventures like this one bring out the stars. When you can convince Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep to attend your inaugural awards maybe there will be a second year for your prizes!  Then again the AFI Awards had one televised ceremony (early 2002) and the stars came out for it en masse and there was never a second year of prizes, so we'll see. 

Meryl looked gorgeous at the Australian International ceremony held in Beverly Hills AACTA Winners

• Screenplay (tie) The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Henslove and Beau Willimon) and Margin Call (JC Chandor). A rare occurence: Midnight in Paris losing a screenplay nomination.
• Director Michel Hazanavicius The Artist
• Actor Jean Dujardin The Artist
• Actress Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
• Film The Artist 

I can't tell you why their press release lists only film winners when they have television right there in the title.

They'll show this intimate ceremony (held in West Hollywood with Australian Academy president Geoffrey Rush naming the winners) or at least clips of it on Australia television on the 31st. 

And now [drumroll] the first awards for the 2012 Movie Year (!!!)

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Review: "Albert Nobbs"

This review was previously published in my column at Towleroad.

Albert Nobbs is story of a woman living as a man in Ireland in the early 20th century. Albert (Oscar nominated Glenn Close) serves as a waiter at a little upscale hotel. His world is so small that he barely leaves the hotel and hardly ever utters full sentences to anyone but himself. Those private conversations generally involve the counting of shillings. Nobbs' inner life isn't quite as small. The waiter dreams of saving up enough to buy a small tobacco shop and run his own little business. When he meets a painter by the name of Mr. Hubert Page (Oscar nominated Janet McTeer) whose situation is not dissimilar but whose emotional life is obviously richer, his eyes are suddenly opened to new possibilities, including romance... or at least cohabitation.  But dreams aren't easy when a flea in your undergarments can give you away, when your career could be finished with one misstep around a wealthy patron, when a stroke of bad luck could put your employer out of business, or when the woman you set your sights on for companionship (Mia Wasikowska) might not have the purest of motives in returning your affection.

You know what's just as a hard as opening a tobacco shop when you're a woman living as a man in early 20th century Ireland? Getting your dream movie made when you're an actress of a certain age in the early 21st century... [More]

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DGA to Oscar? Hazanavicius Nears Finish Line

This weekend everyone is a winner! So many awards. And SAG continues the trend tonight (we'll be live blogging right here). Can clapping for 30 days straight give you carpal tunnel?

Let's start with the biggie, the DGA Awards. Last year's winner Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) passed the baton, in the shape of that golden eagle plaque, to this year's winner Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist). Tom Hooper got ambitious post awards flurry as is busy on Les Miserable. Hazanavicius will chase The Artist with another film inspired by Old Hollywood. He's going to remake The Search (1948) which The Film Experience readers will know as Montgomery Clift's debut. (All we can say is good luck finding another Monty. That's an irreplaceable star in Hollywood's firmament.) Given that The Search is a post World War II drama about an American soldier and a child who survived Auschwitz, maybe Hazanavicius won't be a one hit wonder with AMPAS. Time will tell.

One of the best things about the more specific awards night like the DGA is that there is time to honor the nomineees as well, so even if you don't win, the night is still about you. Each director takes the stage to receive their plaque. Kathy Bates accepted in person for Woody Allen who never shows up at this sort of thing although he did speak via satellite this time. 

Michelle Williams with James Marsh's prizeDGA PRIZES

• Director, Feature Film: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
• Director, Documentary: James Marsh, Project Nim (which was recently shut out of the Oscar nominations in its category)
• Director, MiniSeries: John Cassar, The Kennedys
• Director, Drama Series: Patty Jenkins, The Killing "Pilot"
• Director, Comedy Series: Robert B Weide, Curb Your Enthusiasm "Palestinian Chicken" (wow. people are still excited about this show? Who knew?)
• Director, Variety: Glenn Weiss, the 64th Annual Tony Awards
• Director, Reality Show: Neil P Degroot, Biggest Loser
• Director, Commercial: Noam Murro (Biscuit Filmworks)
• Director, Daytime Television: William Luel, General Hospital "Intervention"
• Director, Children's Television:  Amy Schatz, A Child's Garden of Poetry

Does this mean Hazanavicius has the Oscar sewn up?
Not necessarily...  More after the jump including stats and photos. 

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