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I've been watching Melissa Leo since she was part of the ensemble cast for Homicide: Life on the Streets -- she's a very affecting actor, especially with characters who have to struggle to make life work for them. I don't know very much about her as an individual, and can't speculate on her responses to her nomination and win, but I've been so glad to see her work get recognized.

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I agree, sandik. It was nice to see Leo's work recognized even if she didn't behave in the most, uh, ladylike manner. (She even paid for her own "For Your Consideration" ads, apparently, which goes to show, I guess, that the Lord helps those who help themselves. :))

Thanks, vagansmom. :)

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......but since a 'ballet' film was finally in contention, doesn't anyone think they might have done at least the coda to the real black swan pdd to show the audiences what it was really about?

If they had shown the coda it would have been more real ballet than "Black Swan" favored us with. I think Portman's award was the most recognition apart from the other nominations the movie could reasonably expect this year. Her win was a way of acknowledging its success (in the way Sandra Bullock's victory last year was recognition for "The Blind Side"). I don't think you can really say it was snubbed. Also, it was much more a horror movie than a ballet movie, -- although if real dancers had been cast in the leading roles it might have been both.

Did she sing her song too, if so, she has a great voice--and better than Gwyneth who was getting the attention IMO.

Hathaway sang a parody number - if she had another song I missed it. She does indeed have a very nice voice.

I didn't mean and never did that "Black Swan" was really about ballet in any form whatsoever. What I meant by 'real' was the ballet(s) we attend, view, critique, or participate(d) in. That's the reality I wanted the Oscar producers to show its international audience: Tchaikovsky's, Petipas, Ivanov's etc.etc. version, NOT the clueless stupidity of Hollywood's version. And for once, I was hoping they would show what real ballet is, rather than, as usual, making fun of it by gross parodies like the Oscar pre-roll. Sorry, if I wasn't clear before.

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Film critic Manola Dargis is doing an article for the Sunday NY Times about her attendance at the Oscars. There are a series of photos posted on-line on the NY Times website under the heading "Scenes From the Governors Ball." The 5th photo is a great photo of former ABT dancer Jackie Reyes posing with Aaron Sorkin. The description of the photo reads "Aaron Sorkin and his guest..." Reyes looks lovely.

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Did she sing her song too, if so, she has a great voice--and better than Gwyneth who was getting the attention IMO.

Anne Hathaway really can sing, and she sings well live. It's not a huge voice, and she definitely needs to be miked, but she's a very competent vocalist. She made a very affecting Lili in CityCenter's production of Carnival several years ago.

Melissa Leo's been kicking around the industry forever. Quite a few people thought that she should have won the Leading Actress award last year, so perhaps there's something to be said for taking matters into her own hands this year. It's good to see someone's career finally bloom at this stage of life since women over 50 are considered positively geriatric by Hollywood.

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Actually I was prepared not to like Kirk Douglas' presentation, but when I finally saw the clip I was somewhat charmed by it. But there's really a structural problem with the whole Academy Awards in that it's really a small communtity event - like an annual service club awards meeting, the Kiwanis Club or Twenty-Ands (do they still exist?) - to acknowledge people who do special often uninteresting work in making movies. But at the same time it's presented as light entertainment to the whole country. In those terms it's always a disaster.

My point of reference on the Awards was that my first job out of college was as a soundperson on a news crew at a small tv station, and we covered a large number of curious press conferences and events all over Los Angeles, including the Academy Awards. At the Awards, I was tethered to the cameraman - who was quite mad - by a sound cable. This made our own performance as we ran here and there into something of a Laurel and Hardy routine. But everyone was very nice and it was slightly banal - and I don't think it has changed in tone since then. During the performance what's difficult perhaps is that no one really has a sense of humor about what's going on, but everyone has to pretend that they do.

And Mr Franco has to settle down to being a good actor and stop chasing after the tailings of a long gone avant-garde.

Added: Homicide: Life on the Street was a great Baltimore tv series that may have served as the basis of The Wire - great cast including Melissa Leo. The credits looked like Robert Frank had done them.

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Hi, Quiggin. Thanks for that anecdote. I don’t think there’s necessarily a contradiction between the Oscars as an industry event and a mass entertainment event, and indeed the awards have become more comprehensive and more technically oriented over the years since the Academy’s original incarnation as a union-busting exercise, not less so. (Of course, a few years ago the tech people did get exiled to their own awards ceremony to speed up the show; one of Franco’s few bright moments was saying “Congratulations, nerds,” after that spot was shown.)

I also can’t really say that every show is a disaster. Maybe you just have to have a taste for Oscar night, but some shows and hosts are better than others, some are worse. This show actually wasn’t that bad, but its blandness also made for some tedium.

Too bad Godard didn’t show up for his honorary award although that’s only to be expected. I don’t know what he would have done or said but it would have been interesting.

And Mr Franco has to settle down to being a good actor and stop chasing after the tailings of a long gone avant-garde.

I’m sure after last weekend the Academy will have absolutely no problem with that.

:)

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Anne Hathaway really can sing, and she sings well live. It's not a huge voice, and she definitely needs to be miked, but she's a very competent vocalist. She made a very affecting Lili in CityCenter's production of Carnival several years ago.

Thanks, sidwich. I sometimes think Hathaway would be doing better in an earlier film era.

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Tonight I saw the MTV Movie Awards. Natalie Portman was nominated for her Black Swan...how should I put it..."performance"...? Well...the new category-(in which she didn't win, BTW)-was "Best Kiss". The scene nominated, you all know which one is...Of course, the one with Mila Kunis.

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I thought she was good in general except for an overreliance on a little Excedrin headache frown. I didn't realize you were speaking only of that one scene, though. I would agree with you that it was not a sequence that relied much on acting per se....

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