Lenny: So mr. music snob, what do you think of the academy award nominations?
Roy: I'm beginning to think the best pre-Oscar strategy is to have your DVD released right in the middle of the voting. Look what it did for Crash and Hustle and Flow.
Lenny: What do you think of the late-entry support for Munich?
Roy: Once the dust of all those Op Ed pieces cleared, maybe people recognized a true Hitchcockian thriller... Which it should have been marketed as.
Lenny: I thought their whole "secretive" campaign was ill-conceived... it's a great movie as both an action flick and a think piece. They should have come out gunning.
Roy: Spielberg kept it under wraps too long. Don’t know why he did that. Eric Bana got gypped, but the acting field is pretty strong. The only two glaring omissions are probably Russell Crowe and maybe Ralph Fiennes for Constant Gardener.
Lenny: I’m not on the cinderella man trail
Roy: I haven't even seen it, but it doesn't look great to me.
Lenny: altho i love paul giamatti in everything, and this is payback time for him being slighted the last two yrs
Roy: Ya think he tops Clooney in that category for Syriana?
Lenny: No, i think clooney has a lot of momentum this year and it is his only chance for a W
Roy: I felt Don Cheadle got robbed here... I woulda chosen him instead of Matt Dillon for Crash.
Lenny: They are both great in it as are many of the women in crash
Roy: The only element of suspense I see is whether Crash can catch Brokeback in the back stretch... I gotta think Crash is more an "Academy" type of picture than BBM. Crash was well-acted, but there were too many coincidences and characters that are more about theoretical positions than full-bodied people for me.
Lenny: i think the awards will be split this year with nothing a runaway, and i think the brokeback momentum will be broken by the SAG awards and by the appearance of Munich and Crash in the best pic category
Roy: So you gotta like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Reese Witherspoon in the acting races?
Lenny: lock and lock
Roy: You like Clooney for Best Supporting Actor, too, then?
Lenny: and i think ang lee is a lock in the best director category
Roy: Best Supporting Actress may be the only wild card in the top batch... Will Rachel Weisz take this one?
Lenny: rachel, catherine keener and michelle williams is a close race
Roy: This could tell us whether BBM is going to have a big night... Whether or not Michelle Williams takes this category... But it’s always the hardest to predict.
Lenny: catherine keener has a lot of fans in the academy... she has a long and heralded body of work on her side
Roy: I say it's a toss-up right now, but I'm leaning towards Weisz... I thought Constant Gardener was underrated by the Academy.
Lenny: it split the vote with syriana and both lost out... but i am happiest that Capote snagged five major nominations. i think it is a massive achievement and best pic of the year
Roy: Can’t argue that, but the omission of Grizzly Man from Best Documentary was shameful.
Lenny: loved the grizzly
Roy: Though at least there were several honest-to-goodness breakouts in March of the Penguins and the Enron doc.
Lenny: both of those were GREAT
Roy: A History of Violence kind of got overlooked, except for the Hurt and adapted screenplay nominations. Maria Bello was very good in that one. Surprised she lost out.
Lenny: me too, loved her in it
Roy: How about the screenplay categories? Do you like Brokeback for adapted? Tough competition there. All good movies... Capote, Constant Gardener, Violence, Munich...
Lenny: brokeback vs capote in my vote...
Roy: Original screenplay is another toughie. Crash looks like the favorite to me over Good Night, and Good Luck, Match Point, Squid and the Whale and Syriana, though this category usually awards the "small" film. Which would mean Squid to me...
Lenny: I think crash has to win here
Roy: Though it's hard to argue with that Syriana screenplay... That was complex and unique.
Lenny: lots of quality in this category
Roy: How about in original score? John Williams is up twice for this one, so he may cancel himself out... I thought Gustavo Santaolalla's BBM score gave the movie its gravitas... as Kiefer Sutherland might put it.
Lenny: agree... gustavo wins this one
Roy: Man would I love to see Terrence Howard's "Pimp" song take that honor... Just to hear it announced at the Oscar ceremony.
Lenny: It's a great song
Roy: Shoulda been a single, right? It was a hit in the making.
Lenny: another atlantic records fuckup
Roy: Thank you.... I do believe, though, the DVD releases of Crash and Hustle and Flow have mightily contributed to their good showing.
Lenny: maybe, capote and good night, and good luck are not yet released and scored big. i think the academy voters see what is needed to see and have made excellent choices this year
Roy: Any other things that struck you about the noms? As I suspected, people didn't really care for King Kong... which is only up for four technical awards.
Lenny: best foreign film is wide open.... although TSOTSI could be a favorite because of dustin hoffman's performance as a man playing a woman
Roy: Always an Academy fave.... Does Sydney Pollack play the tribal chief?
Lenny: Yep, and he adds that extra holocaust factor
Roy: Looking forward to this year... Idlewild, the OutKast film, opens soon, with Andre 3000 and Big Boi as a couple of juke joint operators in the '30s south. I bet it's good.
Lenny: definitely want to see it... as well as the movie about the tobacco lobbyist
Roy: Thank You For Smoking, with Aaron Eckhart. One more thing... You think Jon Stewart will be a good host? Or will he pull an "Uma, Oprah, Uma, Oprah" moment?
Lenny: the combination of jon stewart with bruce vilanch joke writing will be great
Roy: But it can't be any funnier than VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club 3.
Lenny: love celebrity fit club... let's revisit this subject the week of the awards and see if we feel any momentum
Roy: Damn shame it wasn't considered for this year's award... Best On Camera Meltdown: Jeff Conway; Most Jolly Obese Person: Chastity Bono
Lenny: love that chastity... let’s revisit this subject the week of the awards and see if we feel any momentum
Roy: I'll see you in the balcony... I'll be the one with the popcorn box over my head.
Lenny: can't wait.... say goodnight, gracie
Roy: Unhhhh. Goodnight, Siskel, wherever you are.