The 79th Academy Awards

[King Mark 3,631]

Well,at least this year I became convinced Best Score category is a travesty,beeing won on the coat tails of a film that has a consolation prize for not winning anything else.That's 3 years in a row.If he's lucky Santaollala could now win every year by beeing in the right film.He'll be nomniated and the clip will again show him playing "iguazu" whatever he composed 10 years ago because the new themes aren't good enough to play in a clip

[Neimoidian 14]

And I must take exception about all the the talk that Scorsese didn't win for his best film....the Oscars aren't supposed to award people for their best work. They are supposed to award the person most deserving during that given year. And Scorsese pic was the best of the five nominated this year, IMO the second best film of the year. He deserved it this year specifically, and not only for the ones he didn't win for The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas or Raging Bull.

Besides that, I believe that while this may not be his single best film (I don't think any film can rightfully claim that title, he's got so many great ones), I am just as excited by his current output than I am by his output in the 70's and 80's. And I do think that The Departed is one of his best films. I think it's a shame that people are downgrading the current film because of his past work.

"Departed" is MS's best pic since "Casino" but I am not that sure yet that it was really the best one from this-year nominees. Moreover, while - of course - it is not a blatant rehash, it is still a remake. What about "Letters from Iwo Jima" (it haven't been released in my country, so I can't really say myself whether it is any good)? I think Eastwood should get award for his exceptional and unconventional attempt to show a war story from two different perspectives.

[King Mark 3,631]

Eastwood looked really old and tired all of a sudden

[Guest macrea]

What a slap in the face to Ennio. He has to do over 400 scores without winning, gets an honorary award, and a moment later Gustavo wins the second year in a row for diddling around on his guitar?

[Morlock 11]

"Departed" is MS's best pic since "Casino" but I am not that sure yet that it was really the best one from this-year nominees. Moreover, while - of course - it is not a blatant rehash, it is still a remake.

I happen to think that The Departed is Scorsese's best picture since The Aviator (which was his best film since Gangs of New York, which was his best film since Age of Innocence). And it is a remake that proves how a remake can be very different and far better than the original. It's amazing how fresh The Departed seems, even concidering that it is based on the story of another, recent film.

What about "Letters from Iwo Jima" (it haven't been released in my country, so I can't really say myself whether it is any good)? I think Eastwood should get award for his exceptional and unconventional attempt to show a war story from two different perspectives.

I don't belive he should get the award for the attempt alone. Neither of the films he made were wholly successful. One was very good, the other (IMO) was not very good, and Iwo Jima makes for a powerful experience, but the fact this is is an ambitious effort doesn't mean it is the best or best directed one.

Well,at least this year I became convinced Best Score category is a travesty,beeing won on the coat tails of a film that has a consolation prize for not winning anything else.That's 3 years in a row.If he's lucky Santaollala could now win every year by beeing in the right film.He'll be nomniated and the clip will again show him playing "iguazu" whatever he composed 10 years ago because the new themes aren't good enough to play in a clip

While that seems to have been the case with Finding Neverland, that was nto the case with either of Santaolalla's wins. People genuinly loved both scores.

What a slap in the face to Ennio. He has to do over 400 scores without winning, gets an honorary award, and a moment later Gustavo wins the second year in a row for diddling around on his guitar?

What a skewed way of looking at things. It's not Gustavo's fault the Acadamy loves his simple, lone guitar music.

[Incanus 5,716]

Marty finally got his price! Go Scorsese! Long awaited and well deserved!

And dear old Morricone received his honorary Oscar. Clint Eastwood had some troubles with his tongue but I think he did pretty well on the stage with such a giant of film music. Morricone has composed so many Oscar worthy scores over the years that is it truly a travesty he has not been nominated and awarded more. I guess that is what you get for living in Europe. But he has our respect and appreciation and that is what counts. Recognition from peers is important but in the end no one is defined by their awards but how they are as people. Morricone's music speaks volumes to us all about him. He is one the masters.

And then there was Santaolalla again. Not so nice. Not a deserved win in the least in my opinion. I could rant and shout about it but I am too tired to do that.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Academy

[Olivier 5]

It's abominaBabel!

[King Mark 3,631]

While that seems to have been the case with Finding Neverland, that was nto the case with either of Santaolalla's wins. People genuinly loved both scores.

?

Like who?I don't exactly see people raving about his victories at film score forums.

[Hitch 57]

I thought last years Oscars were bad. This year was the worst ever.

Ellen DeGenerated was crap. Bring back little Billy "Big" Crystals. Ok I did like the script-to-Marty sequence and the picture opportunity with Clint taken by Spielberg.

Ex-Paramount flavour-du-jour Tom Cruise presented the award to ex-Paramount chief Sherry Lansing. Oh I love the irony of that. Don't you?

Clint fluffed his lines as he was too proud to put on his Elton John style binoculars. Morricone seemed to talk forever and Clint translated it all in under 5 words. Amazing linguistic skills, Clint. Direct yourself to the unemployment line please.

Santaclaus winning 2 nominations out of 2. Pretty amazing. More amazing was the fact I was clapping for him. Suddenly realised what I was doing after 10 seconds. Thats bad even for me.

Daniel Craig looked gorgeous...for a blond.

Marty winning best director. I was trying to figure out what Lucas and Coppola were doing there. Thought they were there representing the best of Marin County Wineries. Their banter was embarrassing. Bring on the stage pros of Sirs Connery, Moore and Caine when they presented Kevin Kline with Best Supporting Actor all those years ago.

Jack Nicholson bald? He should have put his trademark sunglasses on his head. That sheen was giving me excess acid. Is he auditioning for Egghead in the new Batman movie? Or are they re-making Coneheads? Diane Keaton looked like she was on acid. Not that I know such things.

Pretty abyssmal overall. And no blubbering acceptance speeches...except for Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker. Who is this God guy? What movies has he done?

Hitch, bloated after 2 litres of Diet Coke and 10 cartons of Pringles just to stay awake.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Helen Mirren was sexy.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

The game was up when Penelope Cruz came out to present

That's immediately what I thought when I saw her. For a moment I still thought it might go to Navarette, but nooooo.

Asswipes.

[j_parsnip 0]

May i just say, however big a travesty it is that Mr. Gustavo has one twice in a row for terribly below par scores, no one should be comparing him to Alan Menkin, who's work with Disney was phenomenal!

As far as the rest of the ceremony goes, shocked at a few snubs: happy for the departed and Martie; horrified by the best score catagory (something needs to be done with the voting, get musicians to vote or SOMETHING!!!); Dreamgirls should have won best original song, for any one of their songs; happy for Jennifer Hudson, she's amaing as Effie; Happy for Alan Arkin, and LMS's wins; Pan's Labyrinth was robbed for Best Foreign; Children of Men recieved what i believe to be the biggest snub of the evening with it's loss on the Best Cinematography Award (and i LOVED Pan's).

Just my thoughts

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

The three nominations for Dreamgirls in Best Song probably split the vote, meaning they could all warmly crawl up Al Gore's ass one more time.

[Morlock 11]

While that seems to have been the case with Finding Neverland, that was nto the case with either of Santaolalla's wins. People genuinly loved both scores.

?

Like who?I don't exactly see people raving about his victories at film score forums.

We are not 'people'. Film critics have been touting the score, and it was a massively popular CD. People who vote loved both scores.

The three nominations for Dreamgirls in Best Song probably split the vote, meaning they could all warmly crawl up Al Gore's ass one more time.

Frankly, the three songs were not any good. And people might have been like 'It's a musical, and here we've got three songs that aren't particularly good. Better give it to the Al Gore movie. THAT'll convince him to run again'.

IMO, if it weren't for the music, Dreamgirls would have been a great movie. But the songs are so unmemorable, so generic sounding.....

[Jarbas 1]

He's not Brazilian, he's Argentinian. Were he Brazilian, he probably would write better scores.

I totally agree!

Listen to scores by Antonio Pinto or Marcelo Zarvos, Brazilian composers.

Jarbas, the only Brazilian member of this forum, I think.

[Morlock 11]

I've heard scores by Zarvos, and I was not impressed.

[robthehand 3]

Did anyone else think Eastwood's "speech" was a bit of an embarassment? Also, since when was A Fistful of Dollars Morricone's first score? :?

[QMM 4]

Best part of the night for me was seeing Marty walking off stage with Steven, Francis and George, and the smile he had on his face.

[Morlock 11]

Yeah, his win was by far the best part of the evening. Everything- the presentors, the presentation, the ovation, the speech, walking off....I can't wait to see that again.

[ymenard 54]

Didnt they have a Animated or Comedy score category during Menken's time? In any case, his work was pretty brilliant, and lumping him together with Santa is rubbish.

Yes and no. Menken did some great work, he's a true craftsman and artist. It's just that he wasn't diserving the academy award compared to all the other scores back then, it was just the effectiveness of the musical comedies that made the academy members vote for him. His first win in 1989 caused a surprise because it was against great scores, against The Last Crusade, Born on the Fourth of July, Field of Dreams, etc...

So when he won again in 1992 and 1993, the film music industry started to lobby the academy to create a "special" category so that comedy scores with songs would be in a different category than original scores. It was not really anything against Menken, they just wanted justified recognition by the industry for their work. Aladdin was a much more effective score I would agree, people do remember it and it was worth the academy. Still, they created a "Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score" in 1996 because it had happened again with Zimmer on the Lion King. It was dropped when they changed the rules. I hope they change the rules in the future too, so that scores like Babel are not eligible.

I'm sure people will flame me on this one, but i actually thought Gustavo's score was a deserving win. I am also a big fan of 'Babel' as well. The music doesn't hold up well on its own, but i found it very fitting in the movie. The erieness of the instruments used in their suttlety really brought out the character of the film. I don't know if gustavo had anything to do with the final song with the piano? but that was also an excellent work.

See this is the problem! You can't even say if the guy wrote the piano piece!!! He wrote nothing of that piano piece, it was the great Sakamoto (a much better compositor, he's the John Williams of Japan). So how is the award deserved? How many members of the academy thought the entire score was from Gustavo? iirc there is only 10 minute of original score by him in the entire movie, the other stuff by him was existing material.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

And I loved the shot of Marty standing just off-stage watching the acceptance speech for The Departed. Powerful stuff.

[Morlock 11]

Yeah. It was strage, how the Best Picture award just seemed like the icing on the cake.

[Ollie 1,059]

Did anyone else think Eastwood's "speech" was a bit of an embarassment? Also, since when was A Fistful of Dollars Morricone's first score? :?

I think Eastwood meant it was his first film that featured a Morricone score.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I hope they change the rules in the future too, so that scores like Babel are not eligible.

I'm a bit confused, though. Wasn't there already a rule about scores diluted by songs and tracked music being unelligible? You'd think with Iguazu (which is actually a track I quite like) being in there (and it being the best Gustavo piece in the movie as well), and the Sakamato piece, it'd rule itself out, no?

[Morlock 11]

I thought the Morricone tribute was not very thought-out. Particularly the speech...that was one of the most awkward things I've seen on the show. You could tell Morricone was touched...I nearly had tears in my eyes, seeing him bow to the crowd, and the way he dedicated it to his wife. But the power of it was undercut by the way they did it.

I hope they change the rules in the future too, so that scores like Babel are not eligible.

I'm a bit confused, though. Wasn't there already a rule about scores diluted by songs and tracked music being unelligible? You'd think with Iguazu (which is actually a track I quite like) being in there (and it being the best Gustavo piece in the movie as well), and the Sakamato piece, it'd rule itself out, no?

Yes, you would. I was not outraged when it won, you can't expect the voters to know (or care) that a lot of the score was not original, but I was outraged that the music branch nominated it. That's some piss-pour nominatin', that is.

[Trumpeteer 302]

I'll be brief.

I will always watch the Oscars. Have been watching in earnest for 20 years. Every year there is someone who doesn't deserve to win an award but gets it anyway (a few of the victories over John Williams, Shakespeare in Love), but I anage to get over it by the next year.

Just because they brought out Lucas, Spielberg and Coppola (great banter) didn't mean Scorsese was a lock. So I was really nervous before Spielberg called his name. His win will be the most memorable moment of the Oscars since Halle Berry.

I was shocked by the "Pan's Labyrinth" snub in the foreign-film race, but from what I have heard, "The Lives of Others" is an excellent film. And whoever votes in this category is required to see all five films, which is a good idea for the Best Picture Oscar, too. Anyway, "Amelie" suffered the same fate to a film that was very good ("No Man's Land").

Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith were the best presenters. They read from the teleprompter better than anyone and Jaden's little goof was cute and seeing Will and Jada made me go "awwwww." Jaden is destined for something great if his mom and dad don't push him to be the next Jodie Foster.

I was suprised that Melissa Etheridge won (lesbians were in at the Oscars!). The last two times a film had three songs, one of them won. But in both instances, the winning song was so memorable you couldn't ignore it. I agree that the original songs in "Dreamgirls" aren't at the level of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," but they had passion and power, which Melissa's song had too, added with a social message that I had a feeling would be recognized.

Pilobolus was astounding. I've seen them live and there are no words to describe them. Their best interpretation was "Snakes on a Plane."

OK, now to Best Original Score. I am equally stunned, shocked, befuddled and outraged. When the nominations were announced, I wondered how the score bypassed the rule that the majority of the music had to be original. How fitting, though, that right after Morricone got his Honorary Oscar as a makeup for not getting it for "The Mission," they give the score award to someone that did the same thing Herbie Hancock did to "'Round Midnight." Thomas Newman, hilarious in the opening montage, wrote a good score but it wasn't going to win and he knew it. But I do feel that today's society thinks the Newman family (Alfred and Lionel) got too many Oscars in the past and the current ones don't need them. Thomas Newman will win one outright, even if it's a consolation one like his cousin Randy got.

Franz Waxman. Alfred Newman. Adolph Deutsch. Andre Previn. Leonard Rosenman. Alan Menken. Add Gustavo Sanataolalla to that list of composers who won the score award in consecutive years. It makes my stomach turn. And did you hear his acceptance speech? He said "Again, I have to thank....," meaning he used the same speech as last year, replacing Ang Lee with Alejandro! This guy is becoming our new James Horner.

Looking back, it is a travesty that the score award has become a consolation prize for a Best Picture nominee for the past three years. And it goes back to "Life is Beautiful," "Il Postino" and "Fellowship of the Ring." We'll have to prepare ourselves for this next year, when John Williams and others lose next year to some hotshot upstart who will never be heard from again.

Yes, I said I would be brief. Believe me, I was.

[Morlock 11]

Wait, wait, wait.....you LIKE watching the Oscars? ;)

[Trumpeteer 302]

You should know that more than anyone.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Directing

Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Yeah!

FINALLY! That almost makes up for the score award. (Pan's Labyrinth deserved to win that one!)

[Goldsmithfan 6]

Gustavo has more Oscars than Jerry Goldsmith.

More than Elliot Goldenthal.

What the hell?

What . . . the hell?

[robthehand 3]

Gustavo has more Oscars than Jerry Goldsmith.

More than Elliot Goldenthal.

What the hell?

What . . . the hell?

See my signature.

[Greg1138 3]

I see your sig......and it's a bit of a sad indictment......

[King Mark 3,631]

When I watched Bable,I though the music was loud,and you could hear the fingers wiping on the guitar strings like the mike is 2 inches away(by lack of better words to describe it) .I think people like that,it makes it sound like deep music or something....maybe if you watch the movie on drugs

[Neimoidian 14]

Don't make Santaolalla completely retarded, untalented and worthless musician, because he is not like this. He just does his stuff and apparently directors find it suitable for the movie. Some does write music for grand orchestras, some for synthesizers and others for acoustic guitar. I am fine with that. Most of these efforts sound different, but they work. The problem raises when we have to give award to 1 of 5 scores that work well in the movie. The natural way is to choose the one that is the most innovative or required greater skills. Unfortunatelly, Academy has its own criterion that has nothing to do with musical values.

[Morlock 11]

While my vote remains firmly with The Queen, I'm quite taken with Notes on a Scandal. The track 'I Knew Her' is one of the most haunting I've heard in a while.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I sampled The Queen, didn't see what was so special about it.

[Morlock 11]

She only really impresses when you taste the whole pie, not just a sample.

[King Mark 3,631]

So ,how does one explain why the score to Pan's Labirinth lost.It was beautiful,haunting,and has the kind of theme the academy usually votes for.Babel has no theme whatsoever and is only athmospheric music.Does Santaollala have special connections in hollywood?

[Morlock 11]

PEOPLE LOVED BABEL!!!!!!!! What is so hard to understand?

[gkgyver 1,646]

What's hard to understand? What's HARD to understand?

Ok, this will be harsh, straightforward, maybe even offensive to some, but believe me, I mean every word of it and the people behind Santaolalla's sickening rise deserve every letter.

Frankly, I'm so pissed right now that I know, at the end of this post, I will regret that I ever turned my computer on.

Do you know these days? These days, when you think the world has gone completely bonkers, and you're the only one who's still miraculously survived inside a bubble?

Fortunately, these days are rare, but when they come, they hit you hard, and in this case, it's the equivalent of a monster truck ramming a 10x7 dildo into your a** at full speed. Feel free to edit this last statement, but it had to be said.

Imagine that, I'm sitting there, still smiling after Jerry Seinfeld's great little bit, and then my grin gets ripped out of my face.

Ok, Brokeback Mountain, I can understand that (although I'll never be at peace with it) considering the popularity of the movie. And I took it as an unfortunate accident, that a composer who did and achieved so little (if anything) got rewarded just to add another Oscar to the DVD cover of the film.

But twice in a row? Where they actually serious about Santaolalla being better, more inventive, more sensitive, more skilfull than Geisha, Munich, Pan's Labyrinth and The Queen?

Give me a break, give me a f***ing break!

This can't be, this isn't right, and no sane person can possibly think otherwise. There's no heart in Santaolalla's scores, no inventiveness, no individual charme - his scores are there because they have to be there, nothing more, and god forbid they ever become less ("less" in this case would mean that it would actually hurt the film).

I have nothing against Santaolalla doing what he's doing, but I do have something against the gargantuan lack of taste that helps this epitome of musac and mediocrity promote itself as something great, or even worthwhile.

Listening to Pan's Labyrinth is interesting, listening to The Queen is interesting, listening to The Prestige is interesting, listening to Babel is boring, unengaging. That should be the first elimination point right there.

And the thunderous applause he got ... am I the only one? Am I the only one who thinks that his Double Win is like a middle finger to the face of every composer who knows his way around a symphonic orchestra? From Miklos Rosza to Santaolalla ... wow, would someone pinch me, please?

Frankly, I shudder at the thought that the same people who voted for Fellowship Of The Ring also voted for Babel.

[Richard Penna 3,696]

I'm pretty much in agreement with gkgyver here - I was so pissed after the announcement, I just could not believe that the academy were seriously suggesting that Babel had the single best score of 2006.

Even if it is just a misunderstanding from lay people over what is score and what is song, the thought that Santaolalla has scored two in a row at the expense of 8 other composers who churn out several near masterpieces a year, is, quite simply, a f*****g travesty.

I had some nasty suspicions, but I really didn't think it would happen again. F**k the academy, and shame on the music branch .

Now Brokeback, that's a listenable score and I enjoy it as purely background music. It's just nothing even remotely special.

[Dole 17]

I don't think people should be jumping on the Academy as a whole. We all agree that the average Academy voter knows jack about film music (or VFX, or Sound Editing, etc.). It's the Music Branch's fault for nominating Babel in the first place. They're the ones who are supposed to know about film music and are trusted with coming up with five Oscar-worthy nominations. The Academy voter has to fill out his or her ballot thinking that any of the five nominees in any category is worthy of winning. Blame the Music Branch, not the Academy that voted for it.

[Richard Penna 3,696]

Fair enough - f**k everyone in the music branch. I mean, given that at least they can tell scores from songs, what possible excuse can they have?

[Goldsmithfan 6]

Gustavo has more Oscars than Jerry Goldsmith.

More than Elliot Goldenthal.

What the hell?

What . . . the hell?

See my signature.

That signature is one of the saddest Academy related facts I've ever read. I was initially going to include Poledouris as well, but I decided that it would become a list from there. Looks like I'd been beaten to the punch anyway!

Do the members of the Academy even listen to scores on their own or do they only pay attention when they have to? I can't figure it out.

[Neimoidian 14]

I lost my theory about strong latino influence among academy members, because if it was so, this year Navarette would be the winner (since he made better score than GS). Thus, my new theory is that academy members are simply deaf...

[Red 75]

This year's Oscars weren't all that bad. There were many awards which were given to exactly the right people, and that doesn't happen that often. 'Course, this goodness was almost washed away by Santoalla winning and the whole Morricone thing. So I guess by that decree, the Oscars were average this year.

I was pretty shocked at Santoalla's win, but I don't think that there is any conspiracy behind it.

Anything having to do with Martin Scorsese was the absolute best thing about the ceremony.

[Trumpeteer 302]

Where they actually serious about Santaolalla being better, more inventive, more sensitive, more skilfull than Geisha, Munich, Pan's Labyrinth and The Queen?

Give me a break, give me a f***ing break!

This can't be, this isn't right, and no sane person can possibly think otherwise. There's no heart in Santaolalla's scores, no inventiveness, no individual charme - his scores are there because they have to be there, nothing more, and god forbid they ever become less ("less" in this case would mean that it would actually hurt the film).

I have nothing against Santaolalla doing what he's doing, but I do have something against the gargantuan lack of taste that helps this epitome of musac and mediocrity promote itself as something great, or even worthwhile.

Listening to Pan's Labyrinth is interesting, listening to The Queen is interesting, listening to The Prestige is interesting, listening to Babel is boring, unengaging. That should be the first elimination point right there.

And the thunderous applause he got ... am I the only one? Am I the only one who thinks that his Double Win is like a middle finger to the face of every composer who knows his way around a symphonic orchestra? From Miklos Rosza to Santaolalla ... wow, would someone pinch me, please?

Frankly, I shudder at the thought that the same people who voted for Fellowship Of The Ring also voted for Babel.

I agree with you 1,000%. Unfortunately, the vote for "Babel" had nothing to do with music quality.

Voters noticed that the film had no awards. So they filled in "Babel" on their ballot. You must know, however, that the ballots do not have the composers' names. Otherwise, we might have gotten a Thomas Newman win. As I said before, the score award has become a consolation prize.

In the words of Whitney Houston, it's not right, but it's OK.

[Morlock 11]

I disagree, again. There's no agreement between 6,000 members that 'oh, well, I like the film, but I don't feel it deserves any real award, so I'll give it the best score'. People liked the music in that movie.

I don't think people should be jumping on the Academy as a whole. We all agree that the average Academy voter knows jack about film music (or VFX, or Sound Editing, etc.). It's the Music Branch's fault for nominating Babel in the first place. They're the ones who are supposed to know about film music and are trusted with coming up with five Oscar-worthy nominations. The Academy voter has to fill out his or her ballot thinking that any of the five nominees in any category is worthy of winning. Blame the Music Branch, not the Academy that voted for it.

Exactly. The voters don't care about the musical acomplishment, they'll vote for the score that resonated with them the most. We know that there's a world of difference between Santaolalla and Navarrette, Glass, Newman and Desplat. But we are a tiny minority, a tiny niche market, thast judging by most limited releases, has about 3000 core, card-carrying members world-wide. But to everyone else- they'll vote for the music they heard, felt and liked most. In this case, apparantly that was Babel. The only real question is why on earth the Music Branch, which should theoretically be more attuned to the specifics of each score, didn't see the shortcomings of this score.

[Red 75]

Difference of opinions?