OSCAR SYMPOSIUM
with your host Nathaniel and five very special guests
February 2009

intro / day one pg 1 / pg 2 / pg 3 / day two pg 4 / pg 5 / pg 6 / day three pg 7

 

ERIK: In the end I can't agree with Tim that these three days were sad. I live with these numbers all the time. I'm hyper-aware of the increasing divide. At the same time I think the divide is an artifical construction rather than a natural phenomenon. It can be torn down.

A friend of mine, a great songwriter, always shakes his head when people disparage the middle ground. He sees the middle ground like he sees a mountain. The middle is the highest point, the toughest to attain. He strives for it. That's what Hollywood needs to do. They need to create serious films that still have some element of wish fulfillment, and that, most importantly, make people want to be part of the conversation. Now. Not four months from now when the movie comes out on DVD. Now.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying it's something to strive for.

NATHANIEL: And we'll wrap on Erik's majestic mountaintop. Quite a view from up there.

I want to thank my guests Kris Tapley from In Contention, Erik Lundegaard from ErikLundegaard.com, Karina Longworth from Spout, Ed Gonzalez from Slant Magazine and Timothy Brayton from Antagony & Ecstasy for their wit, eloquence and golden analysis. Most of all I want to thank them for loving the movies. People who write about the movies often take heat for "hating everything" ... but I think that's only because they're so willing to publicly dig through all that the movies offer, naming both treasures and junk as they see them... often in the same package. If you ask me nobody loves the movies more than those who write about it. And if you ask me there's never enough movie love to go round.

Pssst. We'd love to hear your "silver lining" for this year's Oscar race at the blog. Thanks for reading the Symposium.

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As we said our private goodbyes I asked the participants to play along with me and end with their "will win / should win" votes for Sunday night. Here are our views on how the night will go down and how it should.

 

Will Win in Blue Should Win in Red
	ED	ERIK	KARINA	KRIS	TIMOTHY	NATHANIEL
PICTURE	Slumdog Milk	Slumdog Milk	Slumdog Milk	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog Milk
DIRECTOR	Boyle Fincher	Boyle  Boyle or Van Sant	Fincher Van Sant	Boyle  Boyle	Boyle Fincher	Boyle  Van Sant
ACTOR	Sean Penn Sean Penn	Mickey Rourke Sean Penn	Mickey Rourke  Mickey Rourke	Mickey Rourke  Mickey Rourke	Mickey Rourke  Richard Jenkins	Mickey Rourke  Rourke or Penn
ACTRESS	Kate Winslet Anne Hathaway	Kate Winslet Anne Hathaway	Kate Winslet Anne Hathaway	Kate Winslet Melissa Leo	Kate Winslet Melissa Leo	Kate Winslet Anne Hathaway
SUPP ACTOR	Heath Ledger Heath Ledger	Heath Ledger Heath Ledger	Heath Ledger Michael Shannon	Heath Ledger Heath Ledger	Heath Ledger Heath Ledger	Heath Ledger Heath Ledger
SUPP ACTRESS	Penélope Cruz Viola Davis	Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz	Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz	Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz	Penélope Cruz Marisa Tomei	Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz
ORIG SCREENPLAY	Milk Happy-Go-Lucky	Milk Milk	Milk Happy-Go-Lucky	Milk Happy-Go-Lucky	Milk WALL•E	Milk In Bruges
ADAPT SCREENPLAY	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog NONE	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog Frost/Nixon	Slumdog The Reader
EDITING	Slumdog Milk	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog The Dark Knight	Slumdog Slumdog	Slumdog The Dark Knight	Slumdog Milk
CINEMAT...	Slumdog Benjamin Button		Benjamin Button Benjamin Button	Slumdog The Dark Knight	Slumdog The Dark Knight	Slumdog The Dark Knight
COSTUMES	The Duchess The Duchess	what do I know about costume design. I barely know how to dress myself?	Benjamin Button Benjamin Button	The Duchess Benjamin Button	The Duchess The Duchess	The Duchess undecided
ART DIR.	Benjamin Button Benjamin Button		The Dark Knight The Dark Knight	Benjamin Button Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button Changeling	Benjamin Button Benjamin Button
SCORE	Slumdog Slumdog		Milk Milk	Slumdog Benjamin Button	Slumdog WALL•E	Slumdog WALL•E
ANIMATED	WALL•E WALL•E	WALL•E WALL•E	WALL•E WALL•E	WALL•E Bolt	WALL•E WALL•E	WALL•E WALL•E
VISUAL FX	Benjamin Button The Dark Knight	Benjamin Button  The Dark Knight	Benjamin Button  Iron Man	Benjamin Button  Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button  Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button  Benjamin Button
MAKEUP	Benjamin Button  Hellboy 2		Benjamin Button  Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button  Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button  Hellboy 2	Benjamin Button  The Dark Knight
SONG	Jai Ho O Saya		Down to Earth Down to Earth	Jai Ho O Saya	Jai Ho Down to Earth	Jai Ho  Jai Ho
SOUND MIX	Slumdog The Dark Knight		The Dark Knight The Dark Knight	The Dark Knight WALL•E	The Dark Knight WALL•E	Slumdog  WALL•E
SOUND EDIT	Slumdog  WALL•E		The Dark Knight  The Dark Knight	The Dark Knight WALL•E	WALL•E WALL•E	Slumdog  WALL•E