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'Deadspin' Founder Will Leitch & Starpulse's Mike Ryan Debate The 81st Academy Awards

February 18th, 2009 10:52am EST Post a comment

oscars

Special guest Will Leitch, Deadspin founder and current contributing editor at New York Magazine, and our own Mike Ryan have taken their Oscar disagreements public in a series of open letters

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27 Member Comments

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Wed Feb 18 2009 11:26:49 By: Agent Smith (

5399)
"Some of us went outside and played when we were kids."
/
And when Transformers (the toys) came out, those of us growing up at the time DID play outside, and sometimes our toys were involved. I do recall it raining occasionally during the 80s as well.
Idiot.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 11:32:52 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@Agent Smith: "[He] must've hit it real close to the mark to get [you] all riled up like this huh kid?
-
Han Solo - The Empire Strikes Back

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Wed Feb 18 2009 11:57:44 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
Ok I just saw Slumdog Millionaire last week, so I have that one fresh in my head. Two words, "good movie" --- not great, but good. But as stated in the article, not all winners need to be great. So just from looking at the candidates, I think this movie should win.
Isn't it getting a little old, just throwing in a gay theme and a movie is considered? I mean I never saw the movie, so I am no authority here --- but take away the gay people and this movie is not even close to being considered. I see many many movies and this one had no appeal to me. Sean Penn is always Sean Penn --- nothing new here.
Benji Button, another two words: Forrest Gump.
The Reader: Never saw it, nor would I want to.
Frost-Nixon: I will prob see this weekend, I will need to get back to you. I have heard great things.
Dark Knight: If up for the award, I would give it to DK. This was a psycho-thriller with action, acting, a great story, great characters, and well worth the $11. I can't wait to own the DVD and watch this like 10x more... immediately.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 11:58:12 By: rob who had a broken foot (

130)
i'm not sure i could be any less enthusiastic about the oscars this year.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 11:59:26 By: brianvan (

1)
I agree with as much of that as I'm qualified to agree with; I've watched parts (or all) of many of this year's Oscar-bait films, and I think the Academy did a terrible job with the nominations this year. I really don't care in the end, though; awards (any of them) should be flawed or nonsensical to an extent, so that no one who wants to make good movies ever tries to win any of them. For example, thank God that comedies are often left out of the awards process, or else so many comedies would be aiming for awards and would be totally dull or cheesy.
And I'll defend American Beauty. Sure, the ending is terrible and the plot is creepy. But I feel like there are a couple of strong messages in that movie about materialism and emotional sustinence that were revealing to anyone who was actually paying attention. The movie was maybe 20 years too late to cut off the beginning of those issues, but at least there was still time left. Instead, mostly everyone in society ignored the messages and continued with their miserable priorities over the next eight years and now look where we are today. I give it credit for entertainingly deploying a message to society that almost no one wanted to hear. (Also: Six Feet Under may owe its existence to American Beauty, for which we should all indeed be grateful.)

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Wed Feb 18 2009 12:09:19 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@rob who had a broken foot: yeah, see, that's the problem.
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@Billy Chapel: Not to mention: Ben Button was written by the same guy, Eric Roth, who wrote Forrest Gump.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 12:11:08 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
I agree w. brianvan... enjoyed American Beauty... the other nominees were terrible:
''The End of the Affair'' - never heard of it
''The Hurricane'' - Decent
''The Insider'' - Hated it [in best In Living Colour voice]
''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' - Hated it [in best In Living Colour voice]

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Wed Feb 18 2009 12:12:48 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@brianvan: re: comedies ... I'm not so sure about that. The Academy, at least with dramas, has been rewarding more avant-garde material lately. Perhaps if more comedies would be considered then, in turn, it would cause less lazy comedy writing ... knowing there was a possible reward. Just a thought.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 12:15:49 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@Billy Chapel: "The End of the Affair" was another Ralph Fiennes movie. You know, I am beginning to not like many movies that guy is in. Though come on: "The Insider" was absolutely fantastic. Of those five I think it was the best.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:04:07 By: Stewart172 (

21)
Like Buzz Bissinger presumably, I will be enjoying a good old-fashioned book on Sunday evening. Zero desire to watch The Oscars this year.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:16:41 By: 666_Steinbrener (

979)
Mike or Will: On your personal list of bad Best Pictures, where would you rank the English Patient?? In my book pretty bad choice, Crash being the worst though. EP was a snooze fest from start to finish.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:16:47 By: Sinbad (

72)
Wow, Stewart172, I think, is passing on the opportunity to join the live blog--kind of a slap on the face, eh?

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:22:49 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
I was not into the Insider, although I did own it before it mysteriously disappeared. It most have had high value on the black market.
I was thinking the other day about actors that are in horrible movies (not necessarily that they make it so). I have concluded that Clive Owen makes some pretty damn bad movie choices (or maybe he is just terrible). This thought came as I saw a picture of The International on the 40th bus stop in 40 blocks(immediately think Firewall meets The Firm meets ANYONE OTHER MOVIE WHERE BIG CORPORATE ENTITY TRIES TO RULE THE WORLD). I hated Inside Job, Children of Man, and pretty much anything else he has been in (Jennifer Anniston one was ok --- did I mention Jennifer Anniston was in it? Sha-wingggg)

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:24:23 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
continued....
But Slumdog Millionaire was pretty original. We saw a new story, new faces, great acting, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with an evil Regis!

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:27:37 By: ipsofacto (

1063)
My opinion doesn't matter but I'll tell you one thing. I wouldn't have nominated one of them. That Slumdog Millionaire had way too much hype. I thought Dark Knight should have
been included if they chose those four and to tell the truth there weren't many that
were even Oscar Nominee material. It was a poor year for movies in general.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:28:17 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
Here is last years nominees:
"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN"(WINNER) "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton,""There Will Be Blood"
-
Now Slumdog or any other movie this year wouldn't compare to any of these (save Mike Clayton). I've seen all these movies and they were all amazing. Juno is questionable in this bunch. There Will Be Blood should have one.
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Point being... this years movies were fairly lame.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:44:49 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@666 Steinbrener: In the last 30 years? Third. Behind Crash and American Beauty. I may be alone on this but I also might throw "Chariots of Fire" in there ... other than the music, I never really got what was so great about that film.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:50:12 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@ipsofacto: You know, I agree about "TDK" but this leads to a bigger point: They have really been avoiding nominating popular films recently. I mean "Ghost," "Working Girl," and "Fatal Attraction" were Oscar nominees at one point. Could you imagine those films being nominated today?

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Wed Feb 18 2009 13:53:41 By: rpa1973 (

68)
I agree with the previous poster that, compared to last year's crop of nominees for Best Picture, this year's nominees are a generally uninspired bunch -- while "Slumdog Millionaire" was a good film, I think it is unique only in the sense that it exposes most Americans to a place and a people they haven't been exposed to before on the big screen. I'm not sure that makes it worthy to to be in the same rareified company as "No Country for Old Men" or "Million Dollar Baby"..

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Wed Feb 18 2009 14:27:35 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@rpa1973: Yes. "Slumdog" is a fine film. But please spare me the incessant cries from people proclaiming this to be "the best film I have ever see." Oh puh-leeze...

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Wed Feb 18 2009 14:34:24 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
But $$$Baby and No Country for Old Men weren't anywhere near the best films I have either seen either. I think we have well established that the award is a sham. If you can craft the writing/production of your movie to fit the cookie-cutter Oscar mold... then you stand a chance.
-
Some requirements for an Oscar: A new idea (see Female Boxer, Psycho-killer vs. Burned out cop, Big-Screen Murder Musical); A few big actors (Oh no Slumdog!); Length (2 hours+ --- fact check please); and if you have a few gay people your chances go up exponentially.
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Please add to this template.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 14:54:48 By: Stewart172 (

21)
Sam Wheat! Ghost makes me laugh. Oh, and I love American Beauty. Spacey rules.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 15:07:50 By: lovetheweasel (

2042)
wow, i have no idea what all this stuff is about, i kinda feel like thats a good thing.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 15:20:45 By: Mike Ryan (

599)
@grimoneus: It's a fine film, you should enjoy it. If you do feel it's the best film you have ever seen, I suggest you count to ten and take a deep breath before you write that down on the internets.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 18:03:00 By: rpa1973 (

68)
I'm going to borrow Billy Chapel's template and create a film solely for the purpose of winning the Best Picture award.. a three-hour musical opus starring Kathrine Heigl as a lesbian burned out San Francisco homicide cop and amateur boxer who solves a murder while coming to terms with her conservative parents' reluctance to accept her sexual orientation and boxing interests.

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Wed Feb 18 2009 18:48:24 By: Billy Chapel (

151)
See that shiny thing on your mantle rpa1973? That is your Oscar winking at you.
-
How about: a dog turns into a man (played by Brad Pitt) who decides to free all dogs from every pound in the U.S., loves to sing Freebird, and falls in love with a human (Scarlett Johannsen) who unbeknownest to him was once a dog as well. He dies a terrible death while chasing a car, as a human (oh the irony). The film will be 2 hours and twenty minutes. [Sh%t I guess this is kind of Matrix meets Shrek meets All Dogs Go to Heaven]

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Wed Feb 18 2009 20:17:14 By: Dee Doyle (

372)
Fantastic debate, guys. I think you both made excellent points and they are how I generally have felt on the subject. Then again I haven't been very happy with the Oscar nominations for years now, so why start now? The only category I care about is Supporting Actor, and once Heath Ledger's memory takes that the rest of the self-important back patting will be turned the hell off.
I was surprised that Winslet was nominated for The Reader and not Revolutionary Road. I'll be honest, as soon as I saw that, I thought it meant an automatic win for Streep. Like an intentional screw up to make sure she gets it. Because Winslet was a supporting actress for The Reader, and she did a far superior acting job in Rev. Road. So why the heck is she nominated for the inferior film?
I was not as interested in Rourke or The Wrestler as you were, Mike, but we'll have to discuss that more thoroughly over a pint.

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