The Emergence of the Oscar Movie Marathon, Part 1

I think it's only appropriate to lay out the path that led to the Oscar Movie Marathon. It's perhaps an interesting journey, and is worth tracing for posterity.

In the year 2000, I was invited to an Oscar party. This was apparently a tradition held by some friends of mine but was one which I had not taken part of up to this point. I arrived, in the snow, to a house that still SMELLED new! My friend (now known as "Quippage") had just moved into her new home and was hosting the Oscar party. I was invited to accompany a friend of mine who was a good friend of Quippage; I felt I was a mere acquaintance. When we arrived, late as is customary of my friend, one guest had already arrived: my friend later known as Reckless.

At the time, Reckless and I were acquaintances, had been seen in the same bar with each other, but had not yet realized the full potential of our friendship. Before the ceremonies began I, as is sometimes the case, felt the need to hop up on my soapbox and throw a nugget into the room to see where it would land. The nugget on this particular evening was "All movies suck."

The nugget barely hit the air when Reckless gobbled it up, turned to me and said something to the effect of, "what the HELL? How can you say that?" The conversation that ensued changed the trajectory of my life and earned me a good friend.

At the time, I felt that movies had shifted in their purpose. They used to be a vessel to distribute opinions of all sorts, to help the public keep their thumb on the pulse of society; and even to expand horizons a bit. But lately, they were a huge disappointment. They had become drivel, a mass of self-serving, self-promoting old-white men who had lost the ability to formulate an opinion let along pass along a fresh idea or viewpoint of the world. I had decided it was not worth my money going to movies.

AAH, but Reckless challenged me on this opinion. Her argumentative nature is perhaps something of legend. We discussed my "all movies suck" notion throughout the Oscars broadcast. She pointed out that since I hadn't actually SEEN many movies, that I didn't really have the first-hand evidence to make such a proclamation. That was certainly an argument that I couldn't refute.

I made two goals that night.

First, I decided that I would go to a movie in a theater for every weekend that there was in the year; I swore to see 52 movies in 2000. Since the Oscars were in March, I was behind about 10 movies already.

Secondly, I decided to watch every movie that had ever won an Oscar for Best Picture. I figured this would be a more challenging feat, so I gave myself until I turned 35 to do so. I turned 33 in the year 2000 so that gave me 2.5 years to watch all 75 movies that had been given the Best Picture statuette.

As I went to movies, I recorded the movie, the date seen, and a general rating of the movie in a notebook that I carried with me. I've since made this list electronic and added to it the Oscar movies that I watched that year. I had a process: On Friday's, I'd make a list of the movies showing over the weekend. I'd decide which movies to see when I arose on Saturday and typically saw two movies each weekend. On Sunday, I'd look at the TV Guide from the paper and find the Oscar Best Pictures that were showing on TV during the next week. Then I would either watch or record them.

I learned a lot that year; about myself, movies, The Oscars. The Oscar Movie Marathon at the end of 2000 was just a grain of sand in the oyster of my movie-watching adventures. Over the next 3 years it will grow into the pearl we celebrate today....

The Nominees Are...

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio - BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole - VENUS
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou - BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy - DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz - VOLVER
Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet - LITTLE CHILDREN

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza - BABEL
Cate Blanchett - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson - DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

Best animated feature film of the year
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE

Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN'S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in costume design
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN

Achievement in directing
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
THE QUEEN
UNITED 93

Best documentary feature
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS

Achievement in film editing
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best foreign language film of the year
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN'S LABYRINTH
WATER

Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN'S LABYRINTH

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
"Listen" - DREAMGIRLS
"Love You I Do" - DREAMGIRLS
"Our Town" - CARS
"Patience" - DREAMGIRLS

Best motion picture of the year
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

Best animated short film
THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS

Best live action short film
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
HELMER & SON
THE SAVIOUR
WEST BANK STORY

Achievement in sound editing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in sound mixing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS

Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

Original screenplay
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Marathon Dates Announcement

Reserve the dates, the Marathon Weekend has been chosen!

FEBRUARY 9 - 11, 2007.

For those of you who wish to join the ranks as an elite member of the Marathon clan, there will be an early showing on Feb 8.

The actual schedule and marathon program will be released soon. Keep checking back for information.

Warm Up to the Oscars - GG Tonight

As the High Holy Season of Cinema progresses and the High Priestesses (HP) become more and more giddy, it is worth noting that there are two other awards shows which can temporarily satiate the eager and incontinent avid Oscar anticipater: the Golden Globes and the SAG awards.

The GG's air tonight, January 15th, at 7 pm central. The SAGs air on January 28th.

Nominees for the GG's can be viewed at www.thegoldenglobes.com. In addition to all the usual awards, this evening will also feature Warren Beatty being honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award for Lifetime Achievement.

In another interesting tribute, this year's Miss Golden Globe will be Jack Nicholson's daughter, Lorraine. It seems wholly fitting that a man who has ogled, admired and handled his fair share of golden globes now has a daughter who will be forever anointed with such a title.

Hopefully, Miss GG will not have to fend off the advances of the Cecil B. DeMille award winner backstage. Mr Beatty has enjoyed a reputation for most of his life as a bit of a rake; although he seems to have been well tamed since his wedding to Annette Bening. Nonetheless, on wonders if Mr Nicholson will keep a golf club handy while his daughter shuttles her golden globes and the golden awards to and from the stage.

High Holy Season - 2007

We kicked off the High Holy Season on Friday with "Dream Girls" at Village Point Douglas Theatres. We couldn't wait for the Oscar nominations to come out, so we selected a movie that was nominated for Golden Globe and SAG awards.

This first movie of the season went much better than the 2005 season, when we ventured to Council Bluffs for "Vera Wang." We should have known we were in for something... here the boy who sold us our tickets came out of the booth to sell us popcorn; where the theater lights were off as we entered the theater and Reckless (as she was then known) sustained an injury on the back row of seats; upon finding a seat and finally feeling safe, I turned to speak to Johna Crybaby, our 6-foot tall Croatian friend, to find her head about even with my elbow having found her seat to have a rather obvious spring problem. We did eventually get situated with our popcorn (a replacement for real dinner) our sodas (without cup holders) and new seats only to have to sit through a very painful movie which we later coined "Vera Wanker." If we had to sit through one more minute of tear-strewn close-ups of Ms. Wanker we might have welled up ourselves!

Yes, Dream Girls was entertaining, only dragged occasionally, displayed some very crafty acting and superb singing performances. Afterwards, we decided to go somewhere for a drink. After ruling out several options we ended up at a place aptly named "Oscars." We explained to our waitress, on the verge of her 21st birthday, the coincidence that brought us to that particular bar and she promptly aided our cause by getting us a clean Oscar's beer glass to steal.

And so it begins...