Gladiator Leads the Oscar Pack

Gladiator got 12 Oscar nominations including best picuture, actor, supporting actor, and director. WOW!

What do you think?

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Here is the complete list:

Best picture

• "Traffic"
• "Chocolat"
• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• "Erin Brockovich"
• "Gladiator"

Best actor

• Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls")
• Russell Crowe ("Gladiator")
• Tom Hanks ("Cast Away")
• Ed Harris ("Pollock")
• Geoffrey Rush ("Quills")

Best actress

• Joan Allen ("The Contender")
• Juliette Binoche ("Chocolat")
• Ellen Burstyn ("Requiem for a Dream")
• Laura Linney ("You Can Count on Me")
• Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich")

Best supporting actor

• Jeff Bridges ("The Contender")
• Willem Dafoe ("Shadow of the Vampire")
• Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic")
• Albert Finney ("Erin Brockovich")
• Joaquin Phoenix ("Gladiator")

Best supporting actress

• Judi Dench ("Chocolat")
• Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock")
• Kate Hudson ("Almost Famous")
• Frances McDormand ("Almost Famous")
• Julie Walters ("Billy Elliot")

Best director

• Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot")
• Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon")
• Steven Soderbergh ("Erin Brockovich")
• Ridley Scott ("Gladiator")
• Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic")

Best screenplay (original)

• Cameron Crowe ("Almost Famous")
• Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot")
• Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich")
• David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson ("Gladiator")
• Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me")

Best screenplay (adaptation)

• Robert Nelson Jacobs ("Chocolat")
• Wang Hui Ling, James Schamus and Tsai Kuo Jung ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon")
• Ethan Coen and Joel Coen ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?")
• Stephen Gaghan ("Traffic")
• Steve Kloves ("Wonder Boys)

Non-English language film

• "Amores Perros" (Mexico)
• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Taiwan)
• "Divided We Fall" (Czech Republic)
• "Everybody Famous" (Belgium)
• "The Taste of Others" (France)

Art direction

• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• "Gladiator"
• "Quills"
• "Vatel"

Cinematography

• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• "Gladiator"
• "Malena"
• "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
• "The Patriot"

Sound

• "Cast Away"
• "Gladiator"
• "The Patriot"
• "The Perfect Storm"
• "U-571"

Sound Editing

• "Space Cowboys"
• "U-571"

Costume

• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• "Gladiator"
• "102 Dalmatians"
• "Quills"

Original score

• "Chocolat," Rachel Portman
• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Tan Dun
• "Gladiator," Hans Zimmer
• "Malena," Ennio Morricone
• "The Patriot," John Williams

Original Song

• "A Fool In Love," Randy Newman ("Meet The Parents")
• "I've Seen It All," Bjork, Lars von Trier and Sjon Sigurdsson ("Dancer in the Dark")
• "A Love Before Time," Jorge Calandrelli, Tan Dun and James Schamus ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon")
• "My Funny Friend and Me," Sting and David Hartley ("The Emperor's New Groove")
• "Things Have Changed," Bob Dylan ("Wonder Boys")

Documentary feature

• "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport"
• "Legacy"
• "Long Night's Journey Into Day"
• "Scottsboro: An American Tragedy"
• "Sound and Fury"

Documentary (short subject)

• "Big Mama"
• "Curtain Call"
• "Dolphins"
• "The Man on Lincoln's Nose"
• "On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom

Film Editing

• "Almost Famous"
• "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• "Gladiator"
• "Traffic"
• "Wonder Boys

Makeup

• "The Cell"
• "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• "Shadow of the Vampire"

Animated Short Film

• "Father and Daughter"
• "The Periwig-Maker"
• "Rejected"

Live Action Short Film

• "By Courier"
• "One Day Crossing"
• "Quiero Ser (I want to be)"
• "Seraglio"
• "A Soccer Story (Una Historia de Futebol)"

Visual Effects

• "Gladiator"
• "Hollow Man"
• "The Perfect Storm

I didn't see a single one of the Best Picture nominees. That probably means I won't be watching the Oscars this year (if I don't have anyone to root for, it's not as fun to watch the broadcast).

My choices for the major awards...

Best Picture: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Best Actor: R. Crowe, T. Hanks *close* behind.

Best Actress: Anyone but Roberts - I was not impressed by Erin Brockovish.

Best Supporting Actor: I'm going to say Phoenix - I've only seen Phoenix and Del Toro (he was okay)...I think Dafoe has a solid chance, though.

Best Supporting Actress: Havn't seen any of them, but I like McDormand

Best Directoor: Traffic, definintely - the Director gave us a gloomy, serious feel the whole time.

Best Screenplay: Nobody...I wanted Unbreakable to get it.

Non-English Languag Film: Tiger/Dragon, duh.

Best Cinematogrophy: See above comment about Unbreakable...the fact that it wasn't even nominated is NUTS. The camerawork was *AMAZING*.

Visual Effects: Hollow Man, even though it was a dumb movie.

Aagghh I really hate it when Hollywood goes crazy over some second rate c**p and then nominates it for twelve Oscars! I must say, I thought Gladiator was a *watchable* movie, but absolutely nothing special about it (ok, I admit there were good special effects, but that's about the extent of it)!

That being said, here's how I hope the Oscars end up:

Best picture
I want Cast Away to get it, but from the list probably Traffic or Erin Brockovich

Best actor
Definitely Tom Hanks for Cast Away

Best actress
Julia Roberts, but I haven't seen some of those movies so I can't really judge acurately (I hear Juliette Binoche is really good in Chocolat)

Best supporting actor
Torn between Benicio Del Torro and Willem Defoe, both great performances in their roles

Best supporting actress
Julie Walters for Billy Elliot, loved that film!

Best director
I'm for Ang Lee or Steven Sodderbergh, but knowing Hollywood Ridley Scott will probably get it

Best screenplay (original)
No doubt, Lee Hall for Billy Elliot

Best screenplay (adaptation)
Crouching Tiger all the way

Non-English language film
This one's a giveaway! CTHD again

Art direction
Probably Crouching Tiger or Quills

Cinematography
Definitely The Patriot! Not much of a story line, but good music and definitely great filming!

Sound
The Patriot or Cast Away (though CA is my fav.)

Sound Editing
Didn't like either, so I won't even bother to comment

Costume
102 Dalmatians...sounds good!

Original score
One of my favourite categories...probably The Patriot or Gladiator, but knowing Rachel Portman's score from The Legend Of Bagger Vance, I wouldn't be surprised if she won either!

Original Song
This should go to Bjork, almost no doubt

Film Editing
Traffic or Gladiator...ok I admit once again, the editing in Gladiator wasn't too bad

Visual Effects
This is a really tough one, I actually hope Gladiator gets it (really brought Rome back to it's glory), but the other two were pretty good themselves, this one might be a bit tough!

Well that's about it from me, hope it wasn't too boring

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I think the bigger "Wow!" is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon coming in a close second to Gladiator with TEN nominations.

And, the last time the same film was nominated for Best Picture AND Best Foreign Language Film was 1943!

Amazing stats on this picture, really. And it was worth seeing again (maybe I'll con my hubby into going this weekend--I've seen it already but he hasn't).

It caught me off-guard, and for that alone it deserves to knock Gladiator around a little.

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Best Picture: Gladiator, Crouching Tiger was good, but not great, and I don't think its the best martial arts movie ever made either.

Best Actor: I want Crowe to get it but Hanks might

Best Actress: I'm just gonna guess and say Joan Allen

Best Supporting Actor: Dafoe

Best Supporting Actress: McDormand

Best Director: Traffic guy, although I want Ridley to get it.

Best Screenplay: Almost Famous

Non-English Languag Film: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Best Cinematogrophy: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Visual Effects: Hollow Man all the way. If this doesn't win for best fx I will be very mad. The effects for Gladiator were good, but weren't very elaborate, the only major one was the Colloseum, and you didn't see it too often.

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OG you're wrong about the sfx, Gladiator had a lot of "Rome" shots which wouldn't have looked nearly remotely as real if not for the fx. Not to mention the war scenes, fight scenes in the Colloseum...etc. I don't think Hollow Man was that good throughout (though it did have some intricate details)!

Well, technically Gladiator may have made use of a few more "larger" effects like that, but it used them to re-create something normal - IE: not supernatural.

Hollow Man showed us something we'd never seen before - the Gorilla scene was too cool...

War scenes etc are actually classified as makeup or film editing. Best Visual Effects mainly deals with one thing throughout, like Rome, Kevin Bacon, the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, the storm in The Perfect Storm, the shark in Jaws etc..

The reason I think Hollow Man was so much more difficult is because a digital person had to of been placed in with all the other actors, but that digital person was an actual living breathing simulation. It had every body part a person does and every single muscle tissue(although it had no fat). I think it was a much more difficult task to reproduce that then to reproduce Rome. All Rome was, was a backdrop and the people acted infront of it. I'm not saying it was a bad job, they were great effects and very intricate, I just think Hollow Man had much more demanding effects. The detail was just amazing.

Quite true...having all that in mind, it'll sure be interesting to see who actually ends up getting it!

I can't believe how many people said Russell Crowe for Gladiator. I am shocked and appalled. And digging up the past somewhat...

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