Oscar wrap-ups
Alan Arkin‘s triumph last night over Eddie Murphy “was one of only two times I actually cheered,” Manhattan movie journalist Lewis Beale confided this morning. “The other was when The Lives of Others won [for Best Foreign Language Film].” Me too. I didn’t exactly cheer when Arkin won — I murmured a quiet little “thank God” to myself, feeling a huge sense of relief — but I whoo-whoo’ed my ass off when Lives director-writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck bounded out of his seat. But I also clapped and grinned a lot. It was a great show.
Even though I only got 16 out of 24 correct. I won nothing, and have only myself to blame.
I never seem to pay much attention to the short films and the tech awards, so for guidance in these categories I relied on (a) the consensus picks that came out of Stone‘s final Oscar chart/poll and (b) a list of picks that The Envelope‘s O’Neil ran the other day. I should have spitballed my own calls.
It was a beautiful night all around. A spiritual one, really. The right people won, and the vibe was not only cheerful and alpha but almost zen-like at times.
We all knew An Inconvenient Truth was going to win the Best Feature Documentary Oscar, but hearing the title called out and then seeing Al Gore and the gang standing together and saying the right things felt like a moment of real transcendence — an affirmation of the importance of the film’s message, and a belief — a realization — that it’s catching on nationwide and worldwide. The vibe got even better when Melissa Etherdige‘s “I Need To Wake Up” won the Best Song Oscar.
The ogre David Poland will resent me for bringing this up, but I’ll never forget his writing early on that An Inconvenient Truth was “a movie nobody wants to see.”
I’d be remiss and lying if I didn’t admit to feeling delighted when Eddie Murphy lost. I stuck my neck way out with the stuff I wrote about him and his chances, and we all know I’d be taking a heavy pounding today if he’d won.
Speaking of poundings, all the pro-Eddie Murphy prognosticators need to ask themselves why they stuck by that extremely likable and wonderfully gifted artist despite the writings on the wall.
Of the 13 Gurus of Gold, ten — USA Today‘s Scott Bowles, the Hollywood Reporter‘s Sheigh Crabtree, Gregg Elwood, N.Y. Daily News critic Jack Matthews, MCN’s David Poland, Oscarwatch‘s Sasha Stone, In Contention‘s Kris Tapley, Hollywood Reporter columnist and Riskybiz blog’s Anne Thompson, L.A. Daily News critic Glenn Whipp and USA Today‘s Suzie Woz — were Eddie boosters to the last.
Only three Gurus went for Arkin — Indiewire‘s Eugene Hernandez, Toronto Star critic/blogger Peter Howelll and N.Y. Post critic and blogger Lou Lumenick.
The Envelope Buzzmeter calls were more evenly split, tipping slightly toward Arkin. Five friends of Murphy — Richard Roeper, Peter Travers, Ed Douglas, Gene Seymour, Sam Rubin — compared to seven Arkin allies — Tom O’Neil, Pete Hammond, myself, USA Today‘s Claudia Puig, The Envelope‘s Steve Pond, Reuters’ Art Spiegelman, and Entertainment Tonight‘s Clay Smith.
Jeff, explain to us how you “stuck your neck way out there” with your preference of Arkin over Murphy. If Murphy won, would you have been executed at dawn? Taking the Oscar prediction game a wee bit seriously, aren’t we? If anything you covered your ass by “officially” predicting Arkin would win, and then admitting that, realistically, Murphy would probably win. You also need to keep in mind that all of these polls you’re talking about are not Preferences, they are Predictions. There’s a difference.
I thought the Al Gore lovefest was a little much. I voted for him and like him for the most part, but his allowing himself to be strutted around like a rock star throughout the night was out of hand. I did really like the joke when the music cut him off before his big announcement, though.
Melissa Etheridge’s song certainly only won because of the Dreamgirls split, though. That one gets an asterisk.
Wells to Breedlove: I believed deep-down that Murphy would probably win because of a somewhat cynical view about human nature that I can’t seem to divest myself of. Good things happen to bad people all the time, and we all need to reconcile ourselves with that unfortunate fact. But if Murphy had won, yes, I would have been shot at dawn, in a manner of speaking. “They” would have come after me, and I would have earned whatever volleys they might fire my way because I wrote so strongly against his being a deserving recipient of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
[puke]
Did anyone hear Sam Rubin on the radio this morning? He said that Eddie Murphy… right after his category…left….just got up and left. Now I wanted Eddie to win and was cool with Arkin winning, but Murphy needed to be a little more gracious about losing. It wasn’t like he was sitting in the back – he had a place right up front!
Yeah, I probably would’ve been first in line behind Bipedalist to poke Wells in the eye if Murphy won.
So gloat away, but please don’t drag it out for months as you’re generally inclined to do about most things.
One of my main argument all along was that you shouldn’t be equating “thinking a guy will win an Oscar” with being an “Eddie booster”, but you didn’t address points like this before and I doubt you will now.
As I said last night, Wells was the first one to make me realize that perhaps Murphy wasn’t a lock after all and he deserves some credit for that. I would’ve preferred to see Wahlberg or Haley win instead, but Arkin seems a nice fellow and I enjoyed him in LMS.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to cut out of work and go see Norbit…
I’ve been watching a lot of the old Oscar-winning and nominated shorts on TCM– a bunch of Robert Benchley ones among them. Gore weirdly reminded me of Benchley last night. I don’t know what that means or how to explain it… it just is.
“Melissa Etheridge’s song certainly only won because of the Dreamgirls split, though. That one gets an asterisk. ”
I’m not sure about that. There seemed to be a lot of lover for An Inconvenient Truth.
i thought eddie was unfairly pounded by you jeff,
its cool to feel that way about an artist but you used this blog to really lay it on, like a personal vendetta. personally i’d like to see him deal with you the way sinatra dealt with that reporter back in the day…
I think it’s pretty hilarious that the global warming documentary won Best Song.
Can anyone hum the songs from The Eleanor Roosevelt Story or Hotel Terminus?
Didn’t you say last night, after Murphy’s loss (cuz around here, that’s what we refer to Arkin’s win as), that you weren’t going to mention it again?
Oh, well.
So here goes:
You did it, Jeff! You did it! You…blogged.
Honestly, though, even one pre-teen in Arkansas has more power with their American Idol vote than you did with Hollywood Elsewhere’s anti-Eddie crusade. You just made yourself look bitter and petty. And got lots more site hits, increasing ad revenues. Fuck it. You played the game well, Jeff. I hope you had an enjoyable Oscar season. I rarely agreed with you, but you were engaging and fun to read and I visited HE daily.
It’s official, Gore has peaked. Now that we’ve seen Hollywood shamelessly kiss his ass for three hours, it’s okay to hate him again.
I suspect the “heavy pounding” will come when Jeff tries to get an interview or inside information from one of the many people who laughed and applauded when they showed Murphy during the opening montage.
Of course, Jeff called it and Hollywood loves winners. Maybe there won’t be any kind of backlash at all.
at least Jackie Earle Haley stuck around for the whole show – and stood up for the Marty moment.
Eddie should have at least stuck it out for Jennifer Hudson’s name getting called out.
But if Hollywood is just high school at the next level, does anyone really want to stick around for 4 1/2 hours of a school assembly?
i seriously want to know how leo can bullshit that the oscars have gone green. whoa a recycling receptical in the lobby
Mr. Wells’ ugly commentaries and positions have put him at the head of Hollywood’s hate list after his slanderous attacks on Eddie Murphy and his idiotic remarks about why he did poorly at predicting only 16 out of 24.
And this mediocre “performance” hardly entitles him to gloat and give advice to those who stood behind Murphy. As far as THE LIVES OF OTHERS, yes it was the best of the foreign film nominees, but many of us knew this for weeks now.
Wells should hide his head in shame.
Oh and what’s the deal with blaming others for not winning your Oscar pool Jeff? That’s lameness of the first order. Just because you were too lazy to do your own heavy lifting in the more obscure categories isn’t anyone’s fault but your own. How dare Sasha Stone not know that The Danish Poet would win best animated short!? Give me a break.
Oh, and do you think Poland still thinks Dreamgirls would’ve won if it had been nominated? I’m thinking not.
Murphy leaving just proves even further that he will always be a selfless asshole. He’ll never get another chance at an Oscar. But hey, there’s always Norbit 2.
It’s strange that Saturday Night Live alumni tend to leave the Oscars after losing in their category. Remember a few years ago when Bill Murray tried to leave after losing Best Actor for Lost in Translation, and Billy Crystal had to smooth the situation over by begging him to stay? Then the crowd gave Murray pity applause for sitting back down. If I was Murphy, I’d be glad I slipped out without Ellen noticing me.
Hey, Jeff Wells, hate to rain on your parade but dancing on the grave of the Eddie Murphy Oscar loss won’t give you brownie points you seem to be desperately pandering for, sorry. You just come off as graceless and probably racist as well. And don’t blame Sasha for your haplessness as making your own predictions. They have a word for that: feckless!
Anyone who believes Jeff’s crusade against Murphy was about anything other than site hits is deluding themselves. Jeff will have nice traffic to wave in front of advertisers, but he sold his soul for a few thousand extra bucks of revenue a month…
Congratulations?
Disliking Norbit is now officially diagnosed as a form of racism.
The terrorists have won.
Murphy’s loss to Arkin reminds me of Burt Reynolds’ loss to Robin Williams for Best Supporting Actor. … Sometimes, personality does come into play, even when you think you have it locked up. (and I LOVED Reynolds in Boogie Nights, but he blew it)
I believe by “going green” he meant that the production resulted in zero net CO2 emissions.
Wells to delbomber: Selling your soul generally means betraying some fundamental/essential inner aspect of yourself in exchange for worldly gain. Thing is, I really do think that the greatly loved & admired Eddie Murphy is an egoistic dickhead. Honestly. Many, many people (some of whom are connected and have impressive resumes) are of this opinion, trust me. So how am I selling my soul by laying my true feelings (i.e., not just that he’s an unhappy pissed-off guy but that his performance was lively on-stage but otherwise not that special) on the line? Help me out with this one, okay?
Ah yass, Mgmax, must’ve been Al’s quip: “Get me out of this global warming and into a cool after-party.”
I’ve been watching a lot of the old Oscar-winning and nominated shorts on TCM– a bunch of Robert Benchley ones among them. Gore weirdly reminded me of Benchley last night. I don’t know what that means or how to explain it… it just is.
Posted by: Mgmax at February 26, 2007 08:57 AM
I always wondered if Reynolds wasn’t hurt most by the fact that he fired his agent after Boogie Nights. Which presumably meant he approved of being cast in Cop and a Half, say. It’d be hard to vote for an award for a role that the actor himself was so clueless about the quality of.
Delbomber to Wells: Ok, selling your soul may not be the best term, but I type fast and move on…how about “fallen on your sword,” “bitten your nose to spite your face,” “shit where you eat”? It’s brassy and somewhat honorable of you to eschew consequences to defend an idea (even if you were on an unholy crusade for an issue as cosmically inconsequential as best supporting actor), however I surmise what may result in an increase in ad revenue may also turn your relationship with Paramount from sour to downright rotten…discretion is the better part of valour. I never disagreed with anything you said about Murphy, just the pit-bull nature with which you went after him…you’ll be defined by this for at least a short while, and I’m merely wondering if it will ultimately be worth it.
ur…ah….gurgle…
oh. sorry. napping.
is it over yet?
We all knew Wells was going to be insufferable if this happened, so nobody should really be surprised. BTW, he didn’t ‘sell his soul’ over this – the man’s been without one for years, at least as long as I’ve been reading him). Like a dog with a chew toy, Wells found something to tear ito and every person who criticized him for it just made him sink his teeth in deeper (a trait he and Poland have in common).
Was the Oscar telecast directed by Joel Schumacher because it was a Flatliner … boring, bad production sequences, Ellen had one good joke she was allowed to tell … more to the point, why doesn’t anyone slam the Indie Spirit Awards which were even more snoozerific … I mean those parody songs are lame, even compared to the Snow White Rob Lowe Oscar number … and who votes on the Indie Spirit Awards, I mean we all know the 5800-plus Academy members and 90 some odd Golden Globe reporters but who votes for the Indie Spirit Awards … they eat their own …
I blame your bile for ticking off the MOvie Gods and costing Emmanuel his richly deserved award. Nice going, Jeff. Way to upend the balance. I hope Lubezki takes his revenge on you somehow.
No longer pised about th Murphy thing. I voted for Arkin and got a much better win count than Wells. So, why do we think you know anything?
Pardon my spotty keyboard. Need to get it checked out.
Actually, I think I’m done here again. Jeff craps on people for putting money in Eddie’s pocket and now I can’t stand the fact that every time I click on these links, I put money in Jeff’s. I’m not going to play along. If last night was the righting of the wrongs and the zen-like takedown of the ego cases, then I’m going to start with you, Jeff. Compare yourself to every movie character you see for all I care. But I’m no longer helping you make a living.
Wells to L.B.: All I wrote about the Murphy loss last night was, “I’d be remiss and lying if I didn’t admit to feeling delighted when Eddie Murphy lost. I stuck my neck way out with the stuff I wrote about him and his chances, and we all know I’d be taking a heavy pounding today if he’d won.” Plus I noted who was predicting a Murphy win and who was predicting an Arkin win. What’s so terrible about that? I’m not dancing on anyone’s grave. Murphy 86′ed himself with his personality issues and having “Norbit” come out during voting time. What do you expect me to say or do? Apologize for loathing Murphy’s attitude and 80% of his films? Start wearing monk’s robes and take vows of abstinence?
Jeff, your inability to grasp what your own readers are telling you…over and over and over and over…used to be annoying, and then it started to be comical, and then it was annoying again. Now it’s just boring.
Enough with the talk of who lost last night or who shouldn’t have won. The show itself wasn’t perfect, but it was better than I expected. Most of the awards feel right. Even the Lubezki snub makes a certain sense when you look at it the right way. Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson gave the best speeches and it was so nice that this year we didn’t have to hear about how they’re black. They were just actors. And winners. And this seemed perfectly normal, as it should.
Celine Dion is the devil. Chris Connelly and Richard Roeper are her minions.
Nicole Kidman looked like some kind of deranged Christmas ornament.
Lives of Others is truly a deserving film, even if it isn’t the audience favorite.
Loved the standing O for Scorsese. Say what you want about The Departed or even the rest of his films. The man is a treasure for his love of film history and the attention he brings to film preservation alone.
My final prediction was Arkin, jackass. And plenty were there before you went off on your anti-Eddie tirade.
Wells, your exact words from _this thread_ are “Speaking of poundings, all the pro-Eddie Murphy prognosticators need to ask themselves why they stuck by that extremely likable and wonderfully gifted artist despite the writings on the wall.” This is not ‘noting who was predicting a Murphy win’, you’re literally saying “I’m going to give a pounding to everyone who disagreed with me due to my perception that they are personally against ME and not because of any possibility that they just thought Murphy was the frontrunner regardless of personal preference.’
Jesus Christ, what an ass!
Yeah, I probably would’ve been first in line behind Bipedalist to poke Wells in the eye if Murphy won.
So gloat away, but please don’t drag it out for months as you’re generally inclined to do about most things.
One of my main argument all along was that you shouldn’t be equating “thinking a guy will win an Oscar” with being an “Eddie booster”, but you didn’t address points like this before and I doubt you will now.
As I said last night, Wells was the first one to make me realize that perhaps Murphy wasn’t a lock after all and he deserves some credit for that. I would’ve preferred to see Wahlberg or Haley win instead, but Arkin seems a nice fellow and I enjoyed him in LMS.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to cut out of work and go see Norbit…
I’ve been watching a lot of the old Oscar-winning and nominated shorts on TCM– a bunch of Robert Benchley ones among them. Gore weirdly reminded me of Benchley last night. I don’t know what that means or how to explain it… it just is.
I think it’s pretty hilarious that the global warming documentary won Best Song.
Can anyone hum the songs from The Eleanor Roosevelt Story or Hotel Terminus?
i seriously want to know how leo can bullshit that the oscars have gone green. whoa a recycling receptical in the lobby
Wells to jeffmcm: I was simply saying that there was very little reason to support Murphy given all the factors (I’m tired of repeating them, but the personal dislike of Murphy was a prominent one aside from the unexceptional aspects of his performance), so why were all those clever people standing behind him all this time, right down to the wire? Based on what? You’re saying I shouldn’t say anything like this, right? I’m Murphy-ed out and it’s off-limits?
And you called me an ass. You’re in a pit of loose mud, hombre. I won’t go there.
Oh and what’s the deal with blaming others for not winning your Oscar pool Jeff? That’s lameness of the first order. Just because you were too lazy to do your own heavy lifting in the more obscure categories isn’t anyone’s fault but your own. How dare Sasha Stone not know that The Danish Poet would win best animated short!? Give me a break.
Oh, and do you think Poland still thinks Dreamgirls would’ve won if it had been nominated? I’m thinking not.
“… we all know I’d be taking a heavy pounding today if he’d won.”
It didn’t take a crystal ball to have foreseen that you would take a heavy pounding today no matter what happened last night.
Anyone who believes Jeff’s crusade against Murphy was about anything other than site hits is deluding themselves. Jeff will have nice traffic to wave in front of advertisers, but he sold his soul for a few thousand extra bucks of revenue a month…
Congratulations?
Disliking Norbit is now officially diagnosed as a form of racism.
The terrorists have won.
Jeffmcm to Wells: Murphy was considered the front-runner for most of the post-nomination period. Is this not the reason why you started on your crusade in the first place? There were plenty of good reasons that eroded over time due to various factors, but going in Murphy was still considered the front-runner. No? THAT’s why ‘all those clever people’ were predicting his win. They were NOT ‘standing behind him’ Two different things which you seem unable to differentiate.
You were Murphy-ed out weeks ago.
PS: Anyone in this day and age who calls someone ‘hombre’ as if they’re channeling some kind of Peckinpah-esque tough guy is a huge ass and a loser. I will go there.
I always wondered if Reynolds wasn’t hurt most by the fact that he fired his agent after Boogie Nights. Which presumably meant he approved of being cast in Cop and a Half, say. It’d be hard to vote for an award for a role that the actor himself was so clueless about the quality of.
Delbomber to Wells: Ok, selling your soul may not be the best term, but I type fast and move on…how about “fallen on your sword,” “bitten your nose to spite your face,” “shit where you eat”? It’s brassy and somewhat honorable of you to eschew consequences to defend an idea (even if you were on an unholy crusade for an issue as cosmically inconsequential as best supporting actor), however I surmise what may result in an increase in ad revenue may also turn your relationship with Paramount from sour to downright rotten…discretion is the better part of valour. I never disagreed with anything you said about Murphy, just the pit-bull nature with which you went after him…you’ll be defined by this for at least a short while, and I’m merely wondering if it will ultimately be worth it.
Hey, at least he didn’t call you ‘pardner’ or ‘amigo’.
I’m not a big fan of ‘chum’ or ‘boss’ either.
“Murphy was considered the front-runner for most of the post-nomination period.”
by six bloggers?
i’m gonna stake my credit claim cos i said from day one it was arkin. nobody but. and people that picked murphy were blind from the git-go, pardners.
Jeff, your inability to grasp what your own readers are telling you…over and over and over and over…used to be annoying, and then it started to be comical, and then it was annoying again. Now it’s just boring.
Enough with the talk of who lost last night or who shouldn’t have won. The show itself wasn’t perfect, but it was better than I expected. Most of the awards feel right. Even the Lubezki snub makes a certain sense when you look at it the right way. Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson gave the best speeches and it was so nice that this year we didn’t have to hear about how they’re black. They were just actors. And winners. And this seemed perfectly normal, as it should.
Celine Dion is the devil. Chris Connelly and Richard Roeper are her minions.
Nicole Kidman looked like some kind of deranged Christmas ornament.
Lives of Others is truly a deserving film, even if it isn’t the audience favorite.
Loved the standing O for Scorsese. Say what you want about The Departed or even the rest of his films. The man is a treasure for his love of film history and the attention he brings to film preservation alone.
Six bloggers who were more right about the final awards than they were wrong, and most of the mainstream media, who were assuming that Murphy, along with Hudson, Mirren, and Whitaker were the front-runners in their catgories. It’s easy to retrospectively say that Murphy was never going to win, but there’s a reason why Wells went after Murphy in the first place.
I’ve always liked ‘champ’ as my favorite patronizing term.
Hey, at least he didn’t call you ‘pardner’ or ‘amigo’.
I’m not a big fan of ‘chum’ or ‘boss’ either.
and way to go l.b. for giving arkin what he deserved!
‘chief’
‘chief’