Ten Best Picture Nominees?- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:27pm

I think it should be 12, one for every month! It would leave more room for the sequels that are so often egregiously overlooked. And also horror. There are still some of you who care about movies for some godforsaken reason and for you I hope the Academy institutes a phone and text voting option for a fan's choice Oscar, like American Idol which so many of you also care about for whatever godforsaken reason.

And there can be some sort of tomato rating award since that also seems to be something a lot of you pay attention to for whatever reason. Also, "Nine" should get the special Academy Anagram "Nein" Award.

Updated On: 12/31/09 at 02:27 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:30pm

Yea! I was hoping Namo would join in since he LOVES Academy Award chat and chose me as his absolute favorite prognosticator--even when I'm not prognosticating! :)

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:33pm

"b12b--I think the chances of my Old Dogs scenario is thankfully unlikely. But many think that it is because of this system that Dark Knight lost out to The Reader last year. It was probably on a ton of lists, but not high enough or what have you."

I'm sure Dark Knight scored several first-choice votes. Just not enough. The "old dogs" voting in the Academy aren't about to take a comic book movie seriously, no matter how good it is. That will change, in time, as the generations change. It's a prejudice against a genre.

Keep in mind that the ONLY fantasy film ever to win a Best Pic Oscar is Lord of the Rings. It had never happened until then.

"And, the tie breakers you mentioned are based on the ballots left over after the first round of counting. It's all so random."

They aren't actually leftover ballots. The initial votes are given points, all on the same page. Five points for a number one slot, four for number two, etc., on down.

The nomination ballot looks like this on an ordinary piece of plain white paper:


BEST PICTURE:

1. ________________
2. ________________
3. ________________
4. ________________
5. ________________


For the Actors Branch, they get a blank, colored, legal-sized sheet of paper with all four categories written on them. Again, the numbered blank lines.

So really, the accountants add up everything by points. Then they initially count only the number one choices. If they need to break ties after that, they look at the point tallies.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:39pm

Here's the process:
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/counting-oscar-ballots-its-complicated-12279

It implies there that once they hit the magic number to be nommed, they remove those ballots--meaning those ballots' 2nd, 3rd, etc. slots don't get counted ever unless a film gets a surplus vote. If surplus vote happens, those ballots are returned to the process, but their 2nd, 3rd, etc. slots only get 1/2 a vote.

My brain hurts.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:39pm

"With 10 noms, the winner could win with a very small amount of the vote, so it could be anyone's game."


That's one of the main reasons the Academy has given for increasing the number to ten this year. By adding more movies into the mix, it will be less likely to predict a front-runner for the award. They're trying to make it more "exciting."

Okay.

Not sure I see it that way, but they are definitely using that as a selling point.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:41pm

This is the first year since the category was created that we'll have five nominees in the Best Animated Film category which I think is pretty cool.
Besty, thanks for explaining everything so well, it's really interesting and a lot easier for me to understand that the Wrap article that came out not too long ago (someone else posted a link). I also didn't realize that about Tarantino, it puts a lot into perspective.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:46pm

If "Up" gets the best picture nomination as many predict, doesn't that basically just give us nine nominations for best movie since it'll almost definitely win best animated and not have a real shot at best movie? It seems like having the extra category makes it impossible for an animated movie to win.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:59pm

"It implies there that once they hit the magic number to be nommed, they remove those ballots--meaning those ballots' 2nd, 3rd, etc. slots don't get counted ever unless a film gets a surplus vote. If surplus vote happens, those ballots are returned to the process, but their 2nd, 3rd, etc. slots only get 1/2 a vote.

My brain hurts."

Yeah, it does imply that. And that's not how it was explained for many years in the Academy ballot brochure. I had a good friend who voted for over fifty years. Sadly, she has passed away. I haven't seen this year's, and if this guy's right, the rules have most definitely changed on how they tally nominations. I'm not sure why they have to hit a "magic number." It should just be the top five "number one" votes in each category. (or ten, for best pic) The "tallying" of secondary votes should only come into play for breaking ties or filling out a category. That's the way it was explained to members in the past. Not that any of them understood it much. But I read the material each year when she received it.

It also implies that for the final voting of Best Picture this year, they will not just be counting single votes (as they do with all other categories). They're going to be using a "preferential system" for the top award. (huh???)

My brain hurts, too. Glad I don't work for PricewaterhouseCoopers. And it sounds like a very shaky system now. Hmmm...

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 8:29pm

(jrb actor) Some are saying IB is going to win.
You've been reading Tom O'Neill at Gold Derby, haven't you?
I don't recall anyone else coming out and saying that they think it will win. Nominated, yes. More have jumped on that bandwagon very recently.
I loved that movie.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 8:59pm

"This is the first year since the category was created that we'll have five nominees in the Best Animated Film category which I think is pretty cool."


That's awesome, ray. I didn't realize there had been that many animated movies released in 2009!

[tazber]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 9:13pm

It was an incredible year for animation. And next year is shaping up to be just as good.

I haven't seen Fantasitc Mr. Fox yet and it is favored to win best animated feature, but I am hoping for Coraline to win.

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 9:22pm

The only movie I've seen that I want to win Best Pic is UP IN THE AIR.

I thought it was fantastic.

[I<3bway]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 12:46am

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Moon with Sam Rockwell getting the chance for a Best Picture nomination. I myself have yet to see the movie, but I've heard it received great reviews not only for the movie itself but for Sam Rockwell's performance.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 12:56am

I want to see that so bad. It didn't play in any theaters around here

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:05am

I watched about half of the Mr. Fox movie but I didn't like it so I went into another room.

[Q]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:10am

It's hard for me to imagine UP not getting the best animated prize. I wouldn't even mind if it took best pic.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:36am

I haven't seen Fantasitc Mr. Fox yet and it is favored to win best animated feature, but I am hoping for Coraline to win.

Everything I've read seems to indicate that Up is a shoe-in for Animated Feature and actually a serious contender for Best Picture of the year.

[tazber]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:43am

We shall see. I'm predicting Fox, based on various critics lists and internet prognosticators.

But it's nice to just have some serious competition.

[Q]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:46am

UP blew me away, on many levels.

[tazber]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 2:54am

It was excellent, but really, how times do you think the Academy is going to give the prize to them?

This would be they're fifth win (I think). They won't get it when there are other superior films that can be recognized.

[Q]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 3:02am

Well, I give them in my head to the most deserving - they can deal with all the politics involved

I think PIXAR might contain the only truly creative voices being allowed to be heard these days.

[tazber]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 3:08am

They know how to make outstanding and emotionally resonant movies without a doubt. But there are a lot of creative artists working in film, you just need to seek them out.

They're not on one of the ten screens playing Transformers II to be sure.

[Q]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 3:11am

To be clearer, that's what I was meaning with my 'allowed to be heard' comment. I see many worthwhile films, but they're not given much of a voice.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 3:14am

I think the Academy is probably getting tired of giving Pixar all those Oscars. They certainly got tired of giving Disney/Menken all those score Oscars in the early '90s that they had to split the category in two: Best Dramatic Score and Best Musical/Comedy Score. As I see it, UP will probably get a Best Picture nomination but not for Animated Feature.

[tazber]

Posted: 1/1/10 at 3:16am

Well that would certainly be interesting. It will be fun to see how it all plays out.

Either way, it's just not Pixar's year to take a trophy home.