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Three grand ladies of music having fun at the Vanity Fair After Party:
Adele congratulated behind the scenes by Catherina Zeta Jones:
Per Hallberg & Karen M. Baker winning their 'Best Sound Editing' Oscar for 'Skyfall':
Dame Shirley Bassey and....future Dame Adele Adkins?:
Paul Epworth with his statue at the Vanity Fair After Party:
Bond girl Halle Berry preparing for the presentation of the 50 Year Bond Tribute:
Bond girl Rosamund Pike at the Vanity Fair After Party:
Former Bond George Lazenby and Bond girl Jane Seymour at the British consul-general residence in Los Angeles.....during the 85th Oscars:
Thomas Newman winning a BAFTA for 'Best Original Score', first Bond score in history to do so:
And past January, when Adele won another statue; the Golden Globe:
And a little timeflight to the 1960's, when 'Bond' won Oscars as well:
'Skyfall' has been an incredible, unique thrill ride for me as a Bond fan. And it ended with a piece-de-resistance full of Oscars, BAFTA's and Golden Globes. A unique event that will go down in the Bond history books as unforgettable :-) .....
Absolutely! The man who created all this ;-)! Thanks @AgentJamesBond007...
An Oscar Voter's Brutally Honest Ballot
One of the 371 members of the Academy’s directors branch recently invited me over to his office to listen in as he openly deliberated about how to fill out his final ballot for the 85th Oscars. As you can tell from his remarks -- highlights of which have been reprinted below, category-by-category -- he has seen virtually all of the contenders and has very strong but carefully considered opinions about them.
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BEST SOUND EDITING
“This is more about sound effects done in post. I’m going to dismiss Argo, Django and Life of Pi because I don’t think their post sound effects were terribly interesting or original. Zero Dark Thirty? I imagine that a great deal of the raid was done with sound effects editing. But I’m gonna go with Skyfall. The sound of that movie was absolutely extraordinary -- in particular, when the train comes colliding into the station.”
Vote: Skyfall
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BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“This is No-Brainer City: ‘Skyfall’ is one of the best songs that has ever been in the best song category and Adele is f---ing brilliant. Plus I think it’s about time that a James Bond song won best song. In a way, this is my F-you for not giving it to ‘Live and Let Die’ back in 1973. I will say that ‘Before My Time,’ which is sung by Scarlett Johansson, is pretty good. ‘Pi’s Lullaby’ I couldn’t remember if my life was on the line. ‘Everybody Needs a Best Friend’ is a simple song. And ‘Suddenly’ from Les Miserables is a very boring song and an absolutely blatant attempt to win a best song Oscar; that upsets me. If ‘Skyfall’ does not win I will fillet my next-door neighbor’s dog.”
Vote: “Skyfall” (Skyfall)
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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“I liked Life of Pi, but I’m suspect of any nominee that used a lot of CGI, since you can manipulate the photography so much. Lincoln was way too milky for me; I have that problem with almost everything Janusz Kaminski does. The Anna Karenina cinematography was totally unimpressive. Django Unchained was Robert Richardson, and he, in general, does far too much top-lighting for me. I’m voting for Skyfall because I want Roger Deakins to win an Oscar. Now, I’m a person who knows that Roger Deakins shot Skyfall, but a lot of people in the Academy will have no clue who did because they don’t tell you on the ballot; in fact, they won’t vote for it because it’s a James Bond film -- you know, ‘How can you give James Bond an Oscar?’ But they should go back and rewatch that opening shot where Bond is approaching the camera, and he’s out-of-focus and he slams into focus in a way that I’ve never seen done before. I also really love the way that Deakins plays with dark and light in the film.”
Vote: Skyfall
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-voters-brutally-honest-ballot-422546
Yes!!! Thank you. They should make an Oscar for CGI and let cinematography be be cinematography. Skyfall was robbed by a cartoon!
Craig has given Bond back his balls after years of Bond been made a joke. Now Bond is back where he belongs at the top and is back to been a serious character.
Very interesting, thanks you for the link @Tuulia.
Did he not do this in CR? Like I said, to some of us Bond had never been a joke, but then we don't take ourselves quite as seriously as you do. If you think fighting on train rooftops, villains with island lairs, and DB5's with machine guns are the height of seriousness then good for you. I don't need everyone else's validation, I just like watching Bond movies, whether it's MR or SF.
I think what 'Skyfall' did is actually bringing several kinds of Bond fans together. The ones that are not that critical and who think the Oscars are not necessary to prove Bond's greatness. Those are the fans who like every Bond film, or, who can respect every Bond picture, regardless of its quality. And you have the type of Bond fan that is more critical and likes to judge a Bond film not solely as a Bond film, but also as a film in general. They respect every Bond film too, but they do like to point out the Bond films that have been groundbreaking, trendsetting and that have enjoyed unanimously raving reviews for its quality.
So all these types of Bond fans are joining here in this topic, resulting in fierce discussions, straightforward different opinions and sometimes even some healthy bickering. Is that bad? No way! It's fantastic. I haven't seen such lively discussions during previous Bond premieres in previous Bond topics. It also shows us that during these two wunderful Oscar wins for 'Skyfall', everyone wants to bring up his/her opinion.
I was thinking....hmmm what if they reedited Skyfall...reduced the music and the number of times M got out of a car. Would it still have won so many Oscers?
letsmake skyfall the best one yet
Totally agree, the previous two movies were great. Never been one for awards or box office results. Bond should never need that sort of validation its been around 50 years in cinema. Think its great the 50th has been a success but that surely is not solely down to Skyfall. IMO Skyfall really is not that good, i have said before and its well documented its technically a good film. When you strip Skyfall down i don't think it falls into the serious category and it occurred to me it is more akin to a Brosnan vehicle. Personally i think Craig sleep walks through the movie, as he is certainly not the focal point of his own film.
I kind of agree with you here. Everyone likes to bring up the apparent layers of socio-political commentary and thematics, but you could argue TND does social commentary as well as SF, if not better. Yes there's symbolism, but that's the kind of nonsense that doesn't really need to be in a Bond film, especially when you aren't even working with a particularly special script. The bottom line is, the technical execution of the film is superb, the character work that Mendes added is refreshing, but the bare bones blueprint is just ok. This is why Bond 24 has the potential to be great. If Logan can nail the 'blueprint' and Mendes deliver the character work, we should be in for something pretty damn good.
That's a matter of opinion really. And *sigh*, I tried to make this clear on so many occasions. NO......Bond doesn't need Oscar validation for being around 50 years. I never said that. But if you can only look to the Oscars as a bunch of joyless, worthless golden statues and NOT as a sincere appreciation for the work certain castmembers did on 'Skyfall -both nominees and winners included-, with with al do respect, but then that's just unnecessary negative blabla. Winning an Oscar is a bloody nice extra on top of an already big franchise. That's how I see it. That's what makes it nice that 'Skyfall' wins an Oscar.
Also, you could see the Oscar for 'Skyfall' indirectly as a great appreciation for what Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson did when they ushered a new Bond era as of 'Casino Royale'. YES, with 'Casino Royale' it all started. Completely agree. But if you continue on the same way as with 'Casino Royale', hence 'Skyfall', then that doesn't get unnoticed.
It's like 'Batman Begins'. When that premiered it got overlooked. But when its follow-up entered cinemas, 'The Dark Knight', audiences loved it. For me, it's just a joyful feeling to see all these Oscars for 'Skyfall'. That's why I do not understand this constant negativity with sentences like "I don't need everyone else's validation" and "Bond should never need that sort of validation its been around 50 years in cinema"
For goodness sake, it's not as if the Academy Awards try to kidnap your movie taste and what to shove their opinions in your ass. That's bullocks. The Oscars are nothing more than fantastic extra recognition for those people who worked on 'Skyfall' with true hardworking dedication. That's how I see it and that's never a negative thing.
Bond tribute?
And although I think Halle Berry is hotter overall, she looked better than Halle did at the awards.
@RC7 It's best to ignore @lahane. You can't have a discussion with him. He's an overdefensive fanboy and if you dare suggest that the Bond films inbetween Connery and Craig were good he won't respond to your points, he'll just say "nope you're wrong" and spout some crap about how uncool Bond was until Craig came along.
Best to just leave him in his little bubble.
She did look good. Shame they didn't bother using her. The whole thing was a bit of a wash out for me.
Naturally. She was also bad in DAD.
Mod Edit - Removed bad language.
This is just disrespectful. May I remind you that Halle Berry was not solely chosen for the fact that she was a Bond girl?! Most presenters at the Oscars are Academy Members, due to their previous Oscar win(s).
Halle Berry deservedly won an Oscar for 'Monster's Ball' in 2001 if you ask me. And allthough she wasn't good in 'Die Another Day', I think she was spot-on in 'Monster's Ball'. Also her roles in 'Cloud Atlas' were IMO captivating and near-perfect.
So she deserves a bit more respect as first and only Bond girl who won an Oscar before filming a Bond film.
I think the problem of 'Die Another Day' wasn't really the acting IMO. It was the dreadful, cheesy screenplay by Purvis & Wade compared to poor editing, a poor director who saw Bond only as an X-Man and over-the-top CGI- and special effects. THAT was the reason why DAD was dreadful if you ask me.
Jinx was a crap character (nice pair though), but to be fair I think lots of that was down to the writing. I'm not sure any actress could've turned in an award winning performance with the **** dialouge the character had.
Haven't seen much of her but she's meant to be a good actress.
Still, even though she might be a good actress outside of Bond, her character was one of the worst bits of DAD so I don't think she deserved to open the tribute.
Mod edit: S-bomb removed.
Mod edit: S-bomb removed.
Very well put. I'm not about to show any respect to someone who ****** all over Bonds good name with an insult of a character.
Don't blame it all on P&W. Proper Oscar winning actors like Bardem and Day Lewis actually craft a character not just spout any old crap they are told. But then of course she's nowhere near their league unless you're an imbecile.
Mod edit: come on, guys...
Yeah, and SHE came up with that line huh? People tend to forget that there is a screenplay in place. For that reason I think more Neal Purvis & Robert Wade are to blaim for these awfully dull, cheesy oneliners that IMO never worked; not on Bond, not on a Bond girl.
For that reason Barbara Brocolli and Michael Wilson team up with John Logan completely. If only he had been around during preproduction of DAD. Concerning Halle Berry? I was referring to her presentation of the Bond tribute at the Oscars. She did a perfect job IMO. And as an actress, I think she deserves more credit than those constant, tiresome Bond girl references. As if that's the only thing she did in her life.
You can call my arguments 'ramblings', but I do think your arguments are simply too short to be considered respectful.
So everything **** about 'Academy Award Winning Actress' Halle Berrys atrocity of a character in DAD is down to P&Ws dodgy script but the quality of the Silva character is entirely down to John Logan and Bardems improvisation?
Can't have it both ways.
Yes Berry was poorly served by a **** script and worse direction but she's been in far too many shocking films for it to always be someone else's fault. DAD and Brozza are about her level. Oscar or no Oscar she really does not have the chops to mix it with DC, Dame Judi and Javier.
Mod edit: please quit it now.
You don't have to tell people what to do in that kind of arrogant way. She isn't the best actress, but DAD's script for the most part was absolutely dreadful.
Yes, but turning this discussion in a sheer ranting session about Halle Berry's role in DAD, when the initial discussion point was her presentation during the Oscars was actually very good...........I don't get that. I think Halle looked stunning in her dress. Rosamund Pike was wearing a kind of curtain no?
Halle Berry played a character that is more or less universally thought of as one of worst Bond girls, if not the worst. Oscar or no oscar, she doesn't deserve to represent Bond.
She was dross and she agreed to say those lines. I don't care what else she's done, she was dreadful and other than Richards I'd take anyone else as an ambassador of Bond.