Author Topic: Oscar for the dead man  (Read 574 times)

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Oscar for the dead man
« on: February 22, 2009, 03:23:52 PM »
I bet you anything Heath Ledger will get it. I think he deserves it because he did play the part of the Joker very well considering Jack Nicholson resented him for getting it. But I think he'll get it now because his kid has been shown in the news 24/7 now and there is so much talk about his dad taking the award. If this is a boring Oscars.... this will make it historic.

Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2009, 03:45:23 PM »
I haven't seen Ledger's "Joker."  I know this is gong to sound very strange - but I loved Iron Man so much, I could not get up the juice to see another "comic book" film when it was out in the theaters - and have been too busy to rent or stream since (is it even available yet?) Still - if the press he got was accurate (that his performance was reminiscent of Nicholson - not as the Joker but as R.P McMurphy in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) then I'd say he defiantly deserves it.

I know not everyone here is a fan of Ledger's.  And the Oscar's are as much about politics and showmanship as anything else, so it would actually be more of an honor if the man were still alive. But he's not.  Wouldn't it be nice, though, if he won - and people could feel that his performace deserved it, sentiment and personal feelings aobut his life & death choices aside?

Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2009, 05:54:50 PM »
So far, I love Iron Man the most out of all the film adaptions of comic book characters.

Ledger getting the win is a Catch-22 situation.

Ledger would not get the Academy Award of Merit if he were alive, the competition is too fierce, but since he is dead, sentimentality might creep in, and the award might go to his name.  But, then again, since he is dead, he won't be able to actually receive it.  Thus he could only get his hands on it if he were dead, but he still can't get his hands on it since he IS dead.  Catch-22.

To somewhat remedy this, I propose that if an award is given posthumously, the winner must be exhumed and the award interred with the remains.

Stop fucking around.  If we are going to "give it to him" in the present tense, then that should be done in the most literal manner possible.

You think I'm joking.

I'm anti-Oscar.  The whole sorry business of having to sign an agreement that you will not sell your award without first offering it back to the Academy for a goddamn dollar is ridiculous.  It's anti-American.

You never truly "own" an Oscar, and they are litigious enough to prove it and have proven it with injunctions to stop a sale.  Give me a break.

Fuck Oscar.

Most will agree Ledger played a good Joker, but Bale was walking through the part and Maggie didn't fit her part at ALL.  As for Aaron Eckhart, I just don't buy any of his acting.  I like Michael Caine but he wasn't given enough lines.

All this distracted from what could have been a truly great film.  Don't get me wrong.  I am most likely the biggest Batman fan here, hence my chosen name in case no one has figured that out.  I liked the film.  I just found too much I didn't like within the film. 

My love for Batman eventually manifested as a love for spelunking.  (Some pieholes call it "caving."  I can't stand that term.)

My favorite moment in The Dark Knight is probably the most overlooked - when Ledger extended his head and body out of a moving vehicle and the soundtrack went completely ambient, almost to a Thomas K?ner extreme.   That moment hinted at what the entire film could have been.

Some might say, metaphysically, it was also an omen.

So, yeah, they can give it to Ledger if they are willing to grab a shovel.

Centurion73

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Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2009, 06:22:47 PM »
Fuck Oscar.

All this distracted from what could have been a truly great film.  Don't get me wrong.  I am most likely the biggest Batman fan here, hence my chosen name in case no one has figured that out.  I liked the film.  I just found too much I didn't like within the film. 

My favorite moment in The Dark Knight is probably the most overlooked - when Ledger extended his head and body out of a moving vehicle and the soundtrack went completely ambient, almost to a Thomas K?ner extreme.   That moment hinted at what the entire film could have been.

I agree with you and your post is a hit and should be read by all as it is a picture of what is wrong with American cinema and American culture as a whole.

Movie was formula and dumbed down for the major part of American society. I do not like ledger, did not like him, as I said before I am not sorry for his "loss" to society as he was not a shinning example of anthing other than being selfish and greedy. I did like his portrayal but it was not really that hard to play an over the top psycho when he had the problems he had, he was just playing a person like so many we have in society now.

Your favorite part is not overlooked by all people and your description of it is spot on. I have talked to a lot of people that like that part and said almost what you have but none so concise.

Oscar has been played out for years and lost its soul and what it once was, like so much in American life it has been bought and co-opted, repackaged and the great unwashed masses lap it up and beg for more. Just like professional sport, academia, government, justice, etc.



Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2009, 12:24:43 AM »
Well, by the time you read this you likely know it already - but the word is in:

Heath Ledger is the Supporting Actor winner for his   demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker in "The Dark Knight," becoming only the second actor ever to win   an Oscar posthumously.

And sorry - Cam - no shovel.

Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2009, 03:41:10 PM »
I'm anti-Oscar.  The whole sorry business of having to sign an agreement that you will not sell your award without first offering it back to the Academy for a goddamn dollar is ridiculous.  It's anti-American.

You never truly "own" an Oscar, and they are litigious enough to prove it and have proven it with injunctions to stop a sale.  Give me a break.

Fuck Oscar.
wow!  i was unaware of this.  what a steamy load THAT is.  i'd accept the oscar and then immediately move to a foreign country that has no treaties of consequence with the usa... that's right... just so i could sell my oscar.

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Most will agree Ledger played a good Joker, but Bale was walking through the part and Maggie didn't fit her part at ALL.
no need to add to this.

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All this distracted from what could have been a truly great film.  Don't get me wrong.  I am most likely the biggest Batman fan here, hence my chosen name in case no one has figured that out.  I liked the film.  I just found too much I didn't like within the film. 
i illegally downloaded the film while in morocco.  yeah, that's right.  sue me.  and i hated it.  i did not finish it.  thank christ in a car seat i didn't pay for it.

as for all of the sobbing we witnessed over ledger's death, i have to say my response to it was hardly congruent with what those in the media informed me it was supposed to be.  apparently, upon news of his death, i was supposed to pay a visit to the local arts and crafts store, buy some heavy grade construction paper, affix any number of heath pictures, and place it along with some randomly chosen flowers next to a telephone pole at the busiest intersection i can find.  in reality, when i heard about it, i think i instead scratched my ass and cooked a grilled-cheese sandwich.  maybe not in that order.  i then watched internet porno.  again, perhaps not in that order.  i just didn't see his death as any great loss to the art or to humanity in general, and i liken the salivating over his absence to the manufactured public hysteria and obsession over things like furby. 

maybe he acted well in batman.  ok.  great.  it's what he got paid to do.  he was just doing his job.  i think it hardly makes him christ.  unfortunately, the same can't be said for most of the others with whom he worked while making the film.  bale was atrocious.  just atrocious.  i can't look at mags. 

ledger was NOT the reason i didn't finish the film.  that's the credit i'll give him.

Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2009, 04:30:01 PM »
Well, by the time you read this you likely know it already - but the word is in:

Heath Ledger is the Supporting Actor winner for his   demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker in "The Dark Knight," becoming only the second actor ever to win an Oscar posthumously.

And sorry - Cam - no shovel.


I did watch the last of the Oscars and was very happy to see the presenter give an account of the exact sequence I had referenced of The Dark Knight.  Centurion was correct - more people appreciated that ~dead space moment~ than I realized and those who didn't now know what to look for if they rent it.  After researching, was surprised to see that the actor who received the first GHOS(?)CAR? was none other than Peter Finch, the weatherman in NETWORK, and it was for that role, and he died while on the road promoting NETWORK.  Goddamn I love that clip, and I know you've seen it a million times, and I know that I don't have to tell you things are bad... everybody knows that things are bad...  It's a depression ... Everybody's out of work, or scared of losing their job... and:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08</a>


P.S.

My favorite moment in The Dark Knight is probably the most overlooked - when Ledger extended his head and body out of a moving vehicle and the soundtrack went completely ambient, almost to a Thomas K?ner extreme.   That moment hinted at what the entire film could have been.


(Yeah, I just quoted myself.  What a narcissistic bastard.)

Meanwhile, I discovered that some of my old Thomas K?ner ambient CDs are commanding 80 to 100 bucks on ebay.  WTF?

Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2009, 07:04:42 PM »
The first time I saw this, I was so moved that right after the teen girl opens the window and the first voice starts to echo off the buildings, I burst into tears. I'm still moved.  But, I'm also mad as hell.

I've lived long enough since to realize that no matter how sincerely someone wants to speak out, someone else will take their words and actions for a spin.  "Son of a bitch!  We've hit the mother load!"  And in the end, it's impossible to know what really happened.

WHEW!  How was that for an emotional outburst?

Now back to our regularly scheduled sucker-fest.



Centurion73

  • Guest
Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2009, 07:05:22 PM »
wow!  i was unaware of this.  what a steamy load THAT is.  i'd accept the oscar and then immediately move to a foreign country that has no treaties of consequence with the usa... that's right... just so i could sell my oscar.
no need to add to this.
i illegally downloaded the film while in morocco.  yeah, that's right.  sue me.  and i hated it.  i did not finish it.  thank christ in a car seat i didn't pay for it.

as for all of the sobbing we witnessed over ledger's death, i have to say my response to it was hardly congruent with what those in the media informed me it was supposed to be.  apparently, upon news of his death, i was supposed to pay a visit to the local arts and crafts store, buy some heavy grade construction paper, affix any number of heath pictures, and place it along with some randomly chosen flowers next to a telephone pole at the busiest intersection i can find. in reality, when i heard about it, i think i instead scratched my ass and cooked a grilled-cheese sandwich.  maybe not in that order.  i then watched internet porno.  again, perhaps not in that order.  i just didn't see his death as any great loss to the art or to humanity in general, and i liken the salivating over his absence to the manufactured public hysteria and obsession over things like furby. 

maybe he acted well in batman.  ok.  great.  it's what he got paid to do.  he was just doing his job.  i think it hardly makes him christ.  unfortunately, the same can't be said for most of the others with whom he worked while making the film.  bale was atrocious.  just atrocious.  i can't look at mags. 

Bravo, damn some people on this site can write so well and paint great pictures with their words I am awe. That said, let the hate mail begin, get a life & fuck off.

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was very happy to see the presenter give an account of the exact sequence I had referenced of The Dark Knight.

Modified per Centurion's Request. Size change on image attachment.

Centurion73

  • Guest
Re: Oscar for the dead man
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2009, 07:21:37 PM »
I think if anyone should have gotten a
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GHOS(?)CAR?
Tip of hat to Cam, it should have gone to Oliver Reed. I admit I am biased but I thought his acting in that small role was very powerful to me and I question if he knew his life was soon to end?

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