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Williams gets Oscar nods for Munich and Memoirs


Melisande

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One of my oldest (and most popular I might add) "conspiracy theories" is that the Academy for some reason "likes" to award the strange name among the nominees.

In that case: Williams is f*cked. Look at the other three names. Even if they wrote the worst scores in history, just the NAMES will get the attention. A pity really.

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I liked the Brokeback score personally, but it doesn't hold a candle to Williams' scores. Constant Gardener was nothing special. Have yet to hear Pride and Prejudice though . . .

I'm trying to stay cautiously optimistic.

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But if you look at the names Marianelli, Iglesiasm, Santaolalla. It's name "Williams" that does not fit in.  :|

Yes but the names "Williams, Perlman & Ma" will impress a lot of voters. I'm sure the Academy promos will feature the two soloists names quite prominently. Williams stands a good chance of winning. If Munich wasn't also nominated, I'd say it was a lock because Memoirs is sure to win some technical categories.

Jeff

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As every year the Oscars make wrong choices.

Bye bye WELL DESERVED oscar for John Williams.

Spielberg you should have not sent a score add for munich! :|

Luke, who cant believe they hate GL so much they didnt eve nominated ROTS for best SFX, amazing. Well two with ILM and one without it. I hope this years they win at least. And angered because Munich was not in stores and couldnt go to see Geisha today.

Well at least i have the Geisah score now to hear :)

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I wonder how much John Williams himself wants to win another Oscar . . . I'm starting to think he doesn't take it that seriously anymore. Nor am I, really. Sure, it'd be nice if he won the Oscar this year (mainly because he deserves it), but I don't think it's that important . . .

:|

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And angered because Munich was not in stores and couldnt go to see Geisha today.

Well at least i have the Geisah score now to hear :|

So you didn't take advantage of the 3x2?

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If John Williams could win for "Star Wars" and Steven Soderbergh could win for "Traffic," all this talk of double nominations meaning no victory is lame.

Look at the buzz. "Memoirs" won two visible score awards (Broadcast Film Critics and Golden Globes). John Williams is an old man who's still cranking out amazing scores. He had very little time to compose "Munich." The others are relatively new to the scoring scene, and they might have other chances. If they don't give it to JW now, then they'll have to do an honorary award, which they already owe to Morricone, so it's best to do it now and not have to worry about it.

But which score will voters pick? It depends on which one is getting more publicity. My guess is that Sony and Universal will have a meeting to figure out which score to promote more. Better to give the man a better chance for one award than push hard for both equally.

Having given this some thought, "Memoirs" looks like the more visible choice to win. "Brokeback" will win major awards and its score isn't the most memorable thing about the movie. The other two are riding coattails.

But we have one month to go. Anything can happen. And anything will happen.

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If John Williams could win for "Star Wars" and Steven Soderbergh could win for "Traffic," all this talk of double nominations meaning no victory is lame.

Look at the buzz. "Memoirs" won two visible score awards (Broadcast Film Critics and Golden Globes). John Williams is an old man who's still cranking out amazing scores. He had very little time to compose "Munich." The others are relatively new to the scoring scene, and they might have other chances. If they don't give it to JW now, then they'll have to do an honorary award, which they already owe to Morricone, so it's best to do it now and not have to worry about it..

Star Wars was an obvious front runner. The most successful movie of all time with the most successful score in years against a very good picture with a wonderful five notes motif and very imaginative underscore but only appreciated by film scores geeks. If this happened today, I'd had no doubts about who would win.

Soderberg was nominated for Traffic and Erin Brockovich. Some people still wondered why would some praise EB if it only was some kind of social cinema with the Roberts Woman changing her designer's outfit every two scenes and with shot changes every three seconds. The obvious choice here was traffic.

And the academy doesn't owe Williams and honorary Oscar. He already has five. For many people (unluckily) those are enough. Even worse, for some other, five are too many.

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And angered because Munich was not in stores and couldnt go to see Geisha today.

Well at least i have the Geisah score now to hear :|

So you didn't take advantage of the 3x2?

No :) the offer expires today, and i asked in fnac when will it arrive and they said 'next week' very unconvinced and not saying an exact date. Did you found it?

Just saw TVE news, and i it was: DISRESCPECT FOR WILLIAMS!!!!

They were saying this year the only spanish representation will be Alberto Iglesias, and put as his main threat Santoalla. Which has already won the globe. WHAT THE? They even dindt mention Williams, who has two nominations (and the actual golden globe!!...)

It seems in Spain the Best score category is going to be a important awrd to expcet this year... Well at least, if williams wins they will show Iglesias loss, so i can see the actual footage...

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This is just what everyone is talking about.

There are only 3 oscars that are interesting to the 90% of people. Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor. And that's it.

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And angered because Munich was not in stores and couldnt go to see Geisha today.

Well at least i have the Geisah score now to hear :|

So you didn't take advantage of the 3x2?

No :) the offer expires today, and i asked in fnac when will it arrive and they said 'next week' very unconvinced and not saying an exact date. Did you found it?

Just saw TVE news, and i it was: DISRESCPECT FOR WILLIAMS!!!!

They were saying this year the only spanish representation will be Alberto Iglesias, and put as his main threat Santoalla. Which has already won the globe. WHAT THE? They even dindt mention Williams, who has two nominations (and the actual golden globe!!...)

Today was the last day? Damn! I thought it was till the end of February. Now I'll obviously will have to pay more.

About the TVE thing, you're talking about journalists, and I don't know worldwide, but here their knowledge usually reduces down to the press info they are given. And the AMPAS only gave info about nominees themeselves and not their previous awards

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I wonder how much John Williams himself wants to win another Oscar . . . I'm starting to think he doesn't take it that seriously anymore.

Well, he has been at the ceremony every time he's been nominated, except for the year of "Angela's Ashes," because he was working, I think.

I think you might confuse his admirable modesty with indifference.

And this just in from the Los Angeles Daily News:

Don’t tell double nominee John Williams that being up for an Academy Award isn’t a big deal, even if he received his 44th and 45th nods Tuesday in the original score category for “Munich” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

“It’s wonderful, always like the first time,” Williams said. “We live and work in the present, not in history. It feels fresh and exciting, and I’m as happy about this as ever, maybe even more so.”

This year’s nods broke a tie Williams was in with Alfred Newman for the most nominations in music categories. He also is now in second place, behind Walt Disney’s 59, for the most Oscar nominations overall.

“I don’t think of myself in a race with anybody,” he said with a chuckle. “And certainly not with Walt Disney.”

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Anyone who still think this Brokeback movie is "just a great love story" is fooling themselves.I expect no less than Elton John to be the presenter for the "best picture" category with the camera doing a quick insert shot of Susan Sarandon sporting a rainbow ribbon on her dress.  

:|

I'm pleased that Williams received two noms, and a little surprised. I'm not really getting my hopes up for him to win, just because of the Academy's track record. What happens, happens.

On a side note, I'm really surprised about the other nominees...though I haven't heard any of them, there were some really great scores this year by established, respected, prolific film composers that were snubbed in favor of these scores with exotically-named composers. Shame. Oh, and I really hope Spielberg wins for Munich, in Director and Picture!

Ray Barnsbury

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“I don’t think of myself in a race with anybody,” he said with a chuckle. “And certainly not with Walt Disney.”

This is a great quote. Gave me a good laugh.

I just think that the Academy doesn't know what to nominate when it comes to music. Brokeback, as far as the music is concerned, is just an average outting, a mediocre score. It's a nice score, but that's about it. There's nothing on the album (that I've heard anyway) that broadcasts an outstanding achievment in cinematic music.

Also, the fact that these are the first nominations for other three composers makes me a bit nervous as well.

Tim

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And this just in from the Los Angeles Daily News:Don’t tell double nominee John Williams that being up for an Academy Award isn’t a big deal, even if he received his 44th and 45th nods Tuesday in the original score category for “Munich” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

“It’s wonderful, always like the first time,” Williams said. “We live and work in the present, not in history. It feels fresh and exciting, and I’m as happy about this as ever, maybe even more so.”

This year’s nods broke a tie Williams was in with Alfred Newman for the most nominations in music categories. He also is now in second place, behind Walt Disney’s 59, for the most Oscar nominations overall.

“I don’t think of myself in a race with anybody,” he said with a chuckle. “And certainly not with Walt Disney.”

i thought Newman had 45?

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Brokeback will win of course. It's the crappiest one and they tend to prefer minimalistic avant garde scores featuring some kind of unusual solo instrument accompanied by a small string ensemble or a bunch of weirdass "artistic" percussion. "Episode III" should have been in there, so should Alexander Desplat's "Hostage". Constant Gardener? Give me a break!¤%# The Oscars is a joke. If the oscars were achievement awards based on people's artistic abilities and the display of superior craftmanship, Williams would have had 40+ of 'em by now. Alas it seems more like an award given to people with exotic names.

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Oddly, Amazon reviewers are currently giving Brokeback Mountain an average of 5 full stars out of 5 based on 72 reviews. Now, I don't actually own the score, but I've been able to listen to the whole thing once so far, and I keep going back and forth between a couple of underscore tracks so I can better judge it, while skipping the "borrowed" songs from Willie Nelson and such. As I've said, it's a NICE score, pleasant. The songs that were written for the film by Gustavo Santaolalla are undemanding, your basic country songs (see "A Love That Will Never Grow Old"). Truthfully, being a guitarist myself for 15 years, the incidental music sounds like some random guy sitting in his basement fiddling with an accoustic guitar. Not technically brilliant in any way, very very average, and not really all that interesting. And really, to restate, the songs are extremely ordinary, even for country music, which isn't inherently difficult to write or perform in general.

I'm not sure how well this works in the film, but I guess it's pretty good. However, that shouldn't be enough to warrant an Oscar nomination, since a lot of scores fulfill their purposes in a movie to great extent, even if it's standard on CD.

Tim, who could've written a better guitar score for the film.

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Santoalla did win the Golden Globe, for best song.

Thats what i supposed, but they were giving flase information. Satoalla did not win for score so he should not be a threat (in a fair world BTW...)

Tim, who could've written a better guitar score for the film.

But no match still for Geisha or Munich :)

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Maybe the Academy did it on purpose, to force Williams into a losing position, thus strengthening Brokeback's chances.

Nah, they can't possibly be that malicious.

Tim

They sure can.

Damn you, you lousy bastards!!! :)

*shakes fist in anger*

Still, a grand total of 45 nominations isn't bad.

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Maybe Brokeback will not win afterall.All those other awards before were given by the press(Golden Globes) and critics.The Oscar nominations had to include Brokeback of course.But now the members,which range from Mel Gibson to Susan Sarandon, have to vote for the winner.Will the Academy members themselves vote for Brokeback?Have most of them seen it?Judging by Dennis Quade's awkward intro to the film at the Globes("it rhymes with chick flick"),obviously he hasn't seen it,and doesn't plan to.So some of the male voters might snub it.And how about the old coots of the academy that consider the Western genre to be sacred grounds.They might not accept a gay Western or vote for it.So what has made critical unanimity might not translate that well in academy votes.

K.M.Trying to find a hopefull logic for JW.

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You know that no one cares about this but us.I haven't seen or heard any mention of the best score category in any Entertainement News program on TV.Yep,we'll be all 50 of us outraged when Santaollala wins.

k.M.

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I wonder how much John Williams himself wants to win another Oscar . . . I'm starting to think he doesn't take it that seriously anymore.

Well, he has been at the ceremony every time he's been nominated, except for the year of "Angela's Ashes," because he was working, I think.

I think you might confuse his admirable modesty with indifference.

And this just in from the Los Angeles Daily News:

Don’t tell double nominee John Williams that being up for an Academy Award isn’t a big deal, even if he received his 44th and 45th nods Tuesday in the original score category for “Munich” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

“It’s wonderful, always like the first time,” Williams said. “We live and work in the present, not in history. It feels fresh and exciting, and I’m as happy about this as ever, maybe even more so.”

This year’s nods broke a tie Williams was in with Alfred Newman for the most nominations in music categories. He also is now in second place, behind Walt Disney’s 59, for the most Oscar nominations overall.

“I don’t think of myself in a race with anybody,” he said with a chuckle. “And certainly not with Walt Disney.”

Yeah, you might be right. I guess I was trying to say that I don't take it that seriously anymore -- not that I am indifferent, mind. I hope against hope every year that John Williams gets another Oscar. But I've been let down so many times. But hey . . . twelfth time might be the charm!!!

:)

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The chances are Academy will give the Oscar as an encouragement prize to a new or foreign composer as if to say "Nice, you wrote some music, now write some more in the future". And most of them do not. Atleast not on the level deserving an Academy Award. Why can't they give it to a deserving person, in this case John Williams, a master craftsman of his art. He who has year after year produced the best of scores and maintained the same high level of craftsmanship in his work.

I know Hollywood politics come to play in the Academy Awards but it is pure agony to see year after year Williams lose to surprisingly mediocre compositions (not all the winners in recent years have been mediocre but many have). I also know his fellow composers vote for the best score and I think most of the time they think that the nomination(s) is enough honour for Williams. They recognize the old master by nominating him every year but why do they not award him. Does he have too many Oscars? To recognize the same person with Oscar every year would be silly but Williams deserves his Oscar this year (as on many occasions before).

The smell of Academy politics is heavy on the dounble nomination. It could easily divide Williams' votes and thus once again stop him from getting the Oscar. It is little futile to agonize and grieve before anything has happened but I see that this double nominations spells "No Oscar this year old chap, but atleast you got 2 nominations. We hope you are happy. We'd hate to make an old man sad".

EDIT

Every soundtrack review site that lists the nominees on their pages also say in the next breath that Williams wont get the Oscar since his 2 nominations cancel each other out. I guess it will be the hard and cruel truth. :)

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I think we should also remember that Marvin Hamlisch got three nominations in 1973, and won all three. But then, I wouldn't have voted for anything other than "The Way We Were" (song only) and "The Sting."

And, there are many actors who got more than one nomination in the same year, yet walked away with an Oscar.

Thinking about this, I'm probably trying to talk myself out of the possiblilty of JW losing than I am trying to convince all of you that he'll win.

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