MATCH POINT at the Oscars

[DoogieB]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:37pm

I think this is one of the best films of the year, if not THE best. I assume it will get a few nominations (Johannson, screenplay), but does it have a chance of taking any? And what about at the Globes?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:42pm

At this point it has no chance of winning any. Original Screenplay will go to Good Night, and Good Luck and Adapted Screenplay will go to Brokeback Mountain.

However, there is always the possibility she could win Best Supporting Actress.

[DoogieB]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:50pm

I just can't believe that "The 40 Year Old Virgin" got a WGA nom, but not "Match Point."

I agree about Best Supporting Actress, it most likely wont be a very strong race this year.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 9:23pm

I can't believe that Crash got nominated over Match Point. I'm glad that certain groups aren't afraid to reward 40 Year-Old Virgin.

I'm crossing my fingers that Johansson and Allen's screenplay get nominated.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 9:26pm

I'd say Johansson and Allen (for screenplay) are locks, and that the film itself is a dark-horse contender for Best Picture.

I would love to see Allen take Best Screenplay. It's light years better than GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.

[EadieWasALady]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:25am

Two people told me this film is terrible. An unimaginative and tedious retelling of An American Tragedy. The leading man has no charm I'm told, and so not heterosexual.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:30am

As far as original screenplay, I don't think GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK is a lock at all. In fact, of most of the great original screenplays of the year, it's not among the best.

VIRGIN has an excellent screenplay, but like last year with MEAN GIRLS and GARDEN STATE, it will not be remembered by the Oscars.

I think CRASH and THE SQUID AND THE WHALE have a better shot at winning screenplay over GNGL.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:44am

You and I are in total agreement, Munk. I think The Squid and the Whale should win.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:55am

Well, I'm not sure who I think SHOULD win...but I know it's not GNAGL.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:59am

Wasn't a good portion of the GNAGL script lifted from transcripts?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 1:08am

I just wasn't really taken in by it.

Is CINDERELLA MAN considered original or adapted?

As much as I have a problem with CRASH and its direction, it's screenplay is pretty excellent. It seems that the academy uses this category to sort of say "Well, you were a great movie, but too artsy and smart to be commercial - so we'll give you this award and call it even," a la ETERNAL SUNSHINE, SIDEWAYS, etc.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 1:12am

Eadie, your friends were half-right. The rather lugubrious MATCH POINT not only riffs (some might say 'rips off') on the Dreiser but recycles Allen's own CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS as well. And for this viewer, the whole 'luck' motif is an imposition on the story. The actors are fine, however. I have no idea of Mr. Rhys-Meyers' orientation but he is most suitable in the part and acquits himself nicely.

Clyde Griffiths
Chicago, Ill.

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 1:14am

I didn't care for it, either. Tight, well-acted, but fatally cold. It was just the facts, nothing more.

so we'll give you this award and call it even

Funny you should say that. I was thinking the same thing.

I believe Cinderella Man is original. Updated On: 1/6/06 at 01:14 AM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 2:45am

Well, munk, even though you deplore GNAGL, doesn't mean it's not in the top spot for the Oscar. You have one opinion and clearly Hollywood has another.

And, if you think about it, the chances are very high that Clooney will either win Best Supporting Actor for Syriana or Best Screenplay for GNAGL as they are highly likely to reward him with at least one for an excellent year.

And, if Brokeback develops a sudden backlash, it's entirely possible that GNAGL could win the Oscar.

Oh won't you boys be screaming and whipping yourselves then!

[Pinguin]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 5:34am

I just saw Match Point tonight and really liked it, but I don't know how much confidence I have in it winning screenplay, and I say this mostly because I don't think its gotten enough momentum.


But if Good Night and Good Luck takes the award, I may vomit. I don't deny that it may, but...oy.

I'll give another vote for The Squid and the Whale.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 10:30am

GOODNIGHT is one of those movies I wanted desperately to love, for its ambitions and subj, but could not, finally. No matter how effective the use of actual McCarthy footage, the movie never gets close enough to the era, or fully dramatizes the ramifications and stakes (the way, say ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN did, and still holds up.) It assumes we know a great deal, entering the theater, and that makes its take on history for a niche group.

It remains to be seen if BROKEBACK will be this year's MILLION DOLLAR BABY or SIDEWAYS. Both won the critics, and separate backashes (Baby's "euthanasia," vs. Side's "nastiness" and both called overrated by somebody). But the latter was all but shut out, finally. I don't think GOOD NIGHT could win. If there's a dark horse, I don't know what it is, however. No one really wants to vote for MUNICH or to give a Woody's movie an award simply because it beats his last 4.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 10:44am

I wouldn't be surprised if this film gets totally shut out of the Oscars. I am actually predicting Scarlett to be looked over for supporting.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 7:57pm

If Allen is nominated or rewarded for his screenplay on Match Point, I will be furious. It's the first film he has set outside New York and my GOD does it show. He had absolutely no clue how British people talk or how British society works. It drove me crazy, it was like he'd watched some Agatha Christie films and some Ealing comedies for his research. Awful. And the plot itself could have a truck driven through its implausibilities. It was SO frustrating because the idea in and of itself is a corker (though, as has already been pointed out, recycled from Crimes And Misdemeanors). Had he turned it over to a different writer who was more keyed up on modern day London and who could have filled in the plot holes, he would have been on to something.

Performance wise, there is one stinker. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is toweringly awful in the main role. Wooden and apparently reading from cue cards 90% of the time. Shame. To make matters worse, every other main performer in the film is absolutely brilliant. Matthew Goode and Emily Mortimer are just fantastic as the spoiled siblings, Penelope Wilton and Brian Cox are great as the rich rich parents. But the film belongs to Scarlett Johansson, who is absolutely electrifying. She occasionally struggles with some of the poorer lines she's given but that's not her fault. Given that Kate Winslet was originally cast, I imagine her character was originally British and when Scarlett took over the role, they amended some dialogue ABOUT her character, but none of HER lines were altered. And given that even the Brits couldn't make some of their dialogue work, it's no wonder Scarlett had some issues here and there.

Hugely disappointing, especially after that fabulous trailer.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 9:40pm

Watched this last night and LOVED IT. One of Woody's best. I think it should definitely receive a nomination for screenplay but that's it. I like Scarlett Johansson and have seen everything she's done but I'm sorry she's never had to stretch in a role. She's got a great look and voice but I'm not sure she's a great actress. Time will tell.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 10:04pm

That's so funny popculture boy that you loved Scarlett Johansson so much, because I really liked the film, but I definitely thought that she was the weak link of the cast. Her anger always seemed very unspecific and ridiculous to me, and without much depth.

But hey, to each his own. She certainly looked very good :0)

[broadway86]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 1:22am

Pinguin-

I agree with you about Johansson's performance. Very few of her choices made sense and/or felt organic.

That said, I think she deserves a nomination ONLY because she's done some amazing work in the past: Ghost World, Lost in Tranlation, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and especially A Love Song for Bobby Long (her best work, IMHO).

[Pinguin]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 2:08am

I get that -I've liked a lot of work in her past, I just feel weird rewarding her for THIS particular performance.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 2:32am

JRB: Since when do I "deplore" GNAGL? I've said nothing but good things about it - I thought it was EXCELLENT. It's screenplay, however - while maybe the top five of the year - just isn't THe top of the year for me. that's all I'm saying. WhereEVER did you get the idea that I "delpore" it?

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 7:49am

I think it's possible her choices didn't "feel organic" as like I said earlier, the role was written for a Brit and then wasn't changed when an American was cast and that simply doesn't work, especially when you're setting a film in present day with dialogue from 1930. And as for her never having to stretch in a role, I couldn't agree less. Just because she's not reaching a Shirley McLaine in Terms Of Endearment level of histrionics in every role she does, does NOT mean she hasn't stretched or isn't talented. It's often far trickier to pull off a "natural" performance like she brilliantly does in Lost In Translation. That she went from that level of natural to contained fury and more in Match Point to me removes any and all doubt that she is a force to be reckoned with. And she's only 21, if she doesn't win for this, she has plenty of time ahead of her to win for something else.

Now to all of you who loved the screenplay, can you tell me your reasons why? Because I could spend all day typing out reasons why it was the biggest problem the film had.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 10:58am

I did not say she wasn't talented. I don't feel she has shown me she's a great actress yet. I said I was a big fan, and that time will tell.

As for the Brit/American issue, I think this film could have been shot anywhere. The location was incidental. They could have been the aristocracy on the east end of Long Island. There was nothing British about the story-it was a universal topic.

I liked the screenplay for the plot twists which surprised me.