The Scoreboard for the Danny & Ann's 11th Annual Academy Awards Ballot is listed below. After the Scoreboard stick around for some photos from the party as well as a list of all the past winners.
Thanks for playing everyone!
...AND THE WINNERS ARE:
Rank Name Score out of 127.00 Points
1 Nate Dekker 97.75
2 James gordon 89.50
3 Scott Engroff 83.50
4 Mike Palovcsik 83.50
5 Danny Sarnowski 79.50
6 Kristie Palovcsik 79.50
7 Jennifer Dekker 73.50
8 Dan Pavlovich 73.50
9 Greg Branson 70.50
10 Steve Hackbarth 69.75
11 Kate Kummer 67.50
12 John Sarnowski 65.50
13 Erin Dischler 64.50
14 Dustin Van Dusen 64.50
15 Chris Ricci 63.75
16 Mary Jo Gordon 63.50
17 David Sarnowski 62.50
18 Mindy Wiesjahn 62.50
19 Ann Sarnowski 59.50
20 Nick Kummer 59.50
21 Glenn Hanon 58.50
22 Rachel Stuhler 58.50
23 Teresa Gordon 56.50
24 Lori Hanon 53.50
25 Jake Sarnowski 51.50
26 Marcia Sarnowski 48.50
27 Cara Peck 48.50
28 Nicolee Wiesjahn 39.00
29 Frizell Bailey 38.00
Here is a list of past Ballot Winners by Year
Year Name of Winner Name of Best Picture
2009 Nate Dekker The Hurt Locker
2008 Danny Sarnowski Slumdog Millionaire
2007 Teresa Gordon No Country for Old Men
2006 Erin Dischler The Departed
2005 Kristie PalovcsikCrash
2004 Stacy Hoyt Million Dollar Baby
2003 Nate Dekker Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2002 Katie Pope Chicago
2001 James Gordon A Beautiful Mind
2000 Katie Pope Gladiator
1999 Danny Sarnowski* American Beauty
Dan Pavlovich*
*Tied for first place
*****SHAMELESS PLUG*****
For those of you who enjoyed the ballot, please know that I have a more robust Movie-Award-Season-Experience-Game for you to consider playing next year. It is the Fantasty Film Studio League. It is run very much like a Fantasy Football League complete with draft night party. Each player picks a studio filled with a Best Picture, Director, Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor/Actress, and other awards and plays throughout the movie award "season" to score points based on the number of nominations and wins their "Studio" gathers. It's a great way to enjoy all of the different movie awards and to prepare for the Academy Awards Ballot next year. Let me know if you are intersted!
And Now Photos -
Here are some fun photos from Sunday night. You can find them on Picasa. Enjoy the gallery and watch as the three-tiered cake comes together. It was great to see all of you!
I am looking forward to next year already.
Cheers,
Danny
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
And We're Done...
Well, gang, it was a heck of a season! With the announcement that The Hurt Locker was the Best Picture of 2009 on Sunday night, we had our final win. The finalized scoreboard is below. Look after the jump for some thoughts about the season and its impact on the Academy Awards ballot. Interesting stuff...
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 27 / 175
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 12 / 86
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 5 / 65
The Dekkers / 26 / 2 / 58
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 3 / 49
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 2 / 34
Steve & Erin / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 2 / 24
As we began the season together I stated that one of the desired outcomes of playing the game was to keep all of us informed about which films and performers were winning which awards in order to make us stronger for the Academy Awards voting. I would have to say that, statistically, this goal was achieved. Look at the scoreboard again with the players from our league in order of their performance for the Academy Awards ballot I ran on Sunday night.
Name / Rank / Total Players
Nate Dekker / 1 / 29
Jimmy Gordon / 2 / 29
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 3 / 29
Danny Sarnowski / 4 / 29
Jen Dekker / 7 / 29
Dan Pavlovich / 8 / 29
Steve Hackbarth / 10 / 29
Erin Dischler / 13 / 29
Ann Sarnowski / 19 / 29
Rachel Stuhler / 22 / 29
Jake Sarnowski / 25 / 29
As you can see, 8/11 of the League Players who also played in the Academy Awards pool finished in the top half. The top four spots were occupied by League Players. Kudos to Nate for winning the whole enchilada and to Jimmy Gordon for going from last in the League to second for the night. A great performance. I would say that was a very strong showing from all of us. I was excited for, and proud of, all of us for a good season and a great Academy Awards ballot.
And so, The Fantasy Film Studio League has concluded its second successful season. I am extremely pleased with how things went and I had a great time playing the game with all of you. I hope that you'll all consider playing again next year and possibly inviting a few more folks to join us. Look for the invite near the last few weeks of November again to get the draft finished before the Film Independent Spirit Award nominees are announced in early December.
Until then, PLEASE GO SEE SOME MOVIES and stay in touch!
Cheers,
Danny.
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 27 / 175
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 12 / 86
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 5 / 65
The Dekkers / 26 / 2 / 58
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 3 / 49
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 2 / 34
Steve & Erin / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 2 / 24
As we began the season together I stated that one of the desired outcomes of playing the game was to keep all of us informed about which films and performers were winning which awards in order to make us stronger for the Academy Awards voting. I would have to say that, statistically, this goal was achieved. Look at the scoreboard again with the players from our league in order of their performance for the Academy Awards ballot I ran on Sunday night.
Name / Rank / Total Players
Nate Dekker / 1 / 29
Jimmy Gordon / 2 / 29
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 3 / 29
Danny Sarnowski / 4 / 29
Jen Dekker / 7 / 29
Dan Pavlovich / 8 / 29
Steve Hackbarth / 10 / 29
Erin Dischler / 13 / 29
Ann Sarnowski / 19 / 29
Rachel Stuhler / 22 / 29
Jake Sarnowski / 25 / 29
As you can see, 8/11 of the League Players who also played in the Academy Awards pool finished in the top half. The top four spots were occupied by League Players. Kudos to Nate for winning the whole enchilada and to Jimmy Gordon for going from last in the League to second for the night. A great performance. I would say that was a very strong showing from all of us. I was excited for, and proud of, all of us for a good season and a great Academy Awards ballot.
And so, The Fantasy Film Studio League has concluded its second successful season. I am extremely pleased with how things went and I had a great time playing the game with all of you. I hope that you'll all consider playing again next year and possibly inviting a few more folks to join us. Look for the invite near the last few weeks of November again to get the draft finished before the Film Independent Spirit Award nominees are announced in early December.
Until then, PLEASE GO SEE SOME MOVIES and stay in touch!
Cheers,
Danny.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Independent Spirit Award Winners
Hey Fantasy Film Studio League Participants!
Today was the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony and we have some points to distribute for the league. The scoreboard has been updated below to reflect the winners. This is the final update as we head into the Academy Awards broadcast tomorrow night.
As the end will come too soon, let me just say that this year was a lot of fun. I had a really good time at the draft and in keeping the blog updated on everyone's progress. I hope that you all enjoyed it as well and I look forward to seeing everyone play again next year. I promise we'll get a solid website up and running which will allow you to view your studio and your picks throughout the season. Again - THANKS FOR PLAYING!
Updated Scoreboard Below:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 22 / 160
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 9 / 77
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 4 / 62
The Dekkers / 26 / 2 / 58
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 3 / 49
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 1 / 31
Erin & Steve / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 1 / 21
Danny.
Today was the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony and we have some points to distribute for the league. The scoreboard has been updated below to reflect the winners. This is the final update as we head into the Academy Awards broadcast tomorrow night.
As the end will come too soon, let me just say that this year was a lot of fun. I had a really good time at the draft and in keeping the blog updated on everyone's progress. I hope that you all enjoyed it as well and I look forward to seeing everyone play again next year. I promise we'll get a solid website up and running which will allow you to view your studio and your picks throughout the season. Again - THANKS FOR PLAYING!
Updated Scoreboard Below:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 22 / 160
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 9 / 77
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 4 / 62
The Dekkers / 26 / 2 / 58
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 3 / 49
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 1 / 31
Erin & Steve / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 1 / 21
Danny.
Update on Party Planning
The last week has been a busy one for us as we cruise into Academy Awards weekend. Ann has been baking cakes and cookies all week. The main dessert this year will taste incredible. Three different types of cake each with a different type of filling. Good stuff. She's also been shopping up a storm and she decorated the house to get us into "Movie Mode."
Today she prepared the cakes and got them filled. Tonight we will assemble and carve the cake and she will apply "the crumb coat" to protect and seal the cake. The main decorating of the cake will take place tomorrow.
We also cooked over 12 pounds of beef in three bottles of wine to prepare for one of the main dishes. Ann got additional work done on several other dishes and I've been busy creating placecards for each dish.
It's very important to note that my father put in some pretty serious time getting the website up and running and in better shape even than last year. The scoring system should be highly robust this year (no gripes!). Also, my brother-in-law James worked to create the logo/banner on the website incorporating several of this year's nominated films' posters along with a special poster he designed just for me. See if you can spot it at: www.thesarnowskis.com/oscars
Tonight is cake assembly, additional cooking, and prep. Tomorrow is final decorating, additional shopping, cooking all day, and a quick final clean before the show begins. Somewhere in there I need to get my picks done!
Danny.
Today she prepared the cakes and got them filled. Tonight we will assemble and carve the cake and she will apply "the crumb coat" to protect and seal the cake. The main decorating of the cake will take place tomorrow.
We also cooked over 12 pounds of beef in three bottles of wine to prepare for one of the main dishes. Ann got additional work done on several other dishes and I've been busy creating placecards for each dish.
It's very important to note that my father put in some pretty serious time getting the website up and running and in better shape even than last year. The scoring system should be highly robust this year (no gripes!). Also, my brother-in-law James worked to create the logo/banner on the website incorporating several of this year's nominated films' posters along with a special poster he designed just for me. See if you can spot it at: www.thesarnowskis.com/oscars
Tonight is cake assembly, additional cooking, and prep. Tomorrow is final decorating, additional shopping, cooking all day, and a quick final clean before the show begins. Somewhere in there I need to get my picks done!
Danny.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Academy Awards Week is Upon Us!
Ann and I have begun the efforts to put this year's party together. Yesterday we finalized the menu and the witty names that accompany each item. Today we did some serious ingredient shopping. Ann has baked four separate cakes and has begun planning the dessert we'll all enjoy next Sunday. Tomorrow we'll add a few decorating touches and run some errands.
Ann will continue to work throughout the week with the cakes and to get some other items ready. Friday we'll have the first guests arrive and we'll spend ALL day on Saturday and Sunday cooking and prepping.
This year we plan to have a few mini-games to play during the night in addition to the Oscar Ballot. The games will cost $1 to play and we'll donate the money to charity.
Well, we've got some additional planning to take care of tonight. So, we're off!
See you all next week....
Ann will continue to work throughout the week with the cakes and to get some other items ready. Friday we'll have the first guests arrive and we'll spend ALL day on Saturday and Sunday cooking and prepping.
This year we plan to have a few mini-games to play during the night in addition to the Oscar Ballot. The games will cost $1 to play and we'll donate the money to charity.
Well, we've got some additional planning to take care of tonight. So, we're off!
See you all next week....
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Into the Final Stretch!
Hey Fantasy Film Studio League participants, we're almost there!
With the Writer's Guild and BAFTA awards announced this weekend, things are almost wrapped up for the Academy Awards. We only have the Independent Spirit Awards and the Razzies before the Oscars. We are two weeks and counting from tonight, so start reviewing these blog posts to see how you'll complete your Academy Awards ballots. Incidentally, we'll have the Academy Awards ballot website up and running soon to allow you to make your picks.
The Hurt Locker was a big winner this weekend, edging out Avatar in the Director, Picture, and Adapted Screenplay awards for which they were both nominated. The Best Actor and Best Actress fields at the BAFTAs were somewhat surprising in that Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan both took home wins. Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep all got to sit one out for a change. Based on these two sets of awards the scoreboard has been updated below:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 19 / 151
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 9 / 77
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 3 / 59
The Dekkers / 26 / 1 / 55
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 2 / 46
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 1 / 31
Erin & Steve / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 1 / 21
For those of you who played last year, here is how the scoreboard looked after the Writer's Guild and BAFTA award winners were announced:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 40 / 9 / 107
Mike Palovcsik / 43 / 6 / 104
Scott Engroff / 32 / 13 / 103
The Dekkers / 23 / 3 / 55
Ann Sarnowski / 19 / 1 / 41
Jake Sarnowski / 10 / 2 / 26
Ann and I will make a point of updating the blog over the next two weeks to document the preparations for the party this year. I hope that all of you will join us for the event and that the Film Studio League has been helpful for you to keep track of who has won awards this year.
Cheers,
Danny.
With the Writer's Guild and BAFTA awards announced this weekend, things are almost wrapped up for the Academy Awards. We only have the Independent Spirit Awards and the Razzies before the Oscars. We are two weeks and counting from tonight, so start reviewing these blog posts to see how you'll complete your Academy Awards ballots. Incidentally, we'll have the Academy Awards ballot website up and running soon to allow you to make your picks.
The Hurt Locker was a big winner this weekend, edging out Avatar in the Director, Picture, and Adapted Screenplay awards for which they were both nominated. The Best Actor and Best Actress fields at the BAFTAs were somewhat surprising in that Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan both took home wins. Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep all got to sit one out for a change. Based on these two sets of awards the scoreboard has been updated below:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 47 / 19 / 151
Defending Champion Scott Engroff / 25 / 9 / 77
Paul Hogseth / 25 / 3 / 59
The Dekkers / 26 / 1 / 55
Ann Sarnowski / 20 / 2 / 46
Jake & Rachel / 16 / 1 / 35
Dan Pavlovich / 14 / 1 / 31
Erin & Steve / 14 / 0 / 28
Jimmy Gordon / 9 / 1 / 21
For those of you who played last year, here is how the scoreboard looked after the Writer's Guild and BAFTA award winners were announced:
Name / Nominations / Wins / Points
Danny Sarnowski / 40 / 9 / 107
Mike Palovcsik / 43 / 6 / 104
Scott Engroff / 32 / 13 / 103
The Dekkers / 23 / 3 / 55
Ann Sarnowski / 19 / 1 / 41
Jake Sarnowski / 10 / 2 / 26
Ann and I will make a point of updating the blog over the next two weeks to document the preparations for the party this year. I hope that all of you will join us for the event and that the Film Studio League has been helpful for you to keep track of who has won awards this year.
Cheers,
Danny.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is a spectre. A ghostly vapor of a great film adapted from the page-turning novel of the same name.
For those who haven't seen the trailer here's the story: a pair of U.S. Marshals are called to Shutter Island to investigate a missing inmate from a high-security asylum for the criminally insane. The patient apparently walked right through the stone walls of her locked cell and is loose somewhere on the forbidding island. What starts as a detective story quickly becomes a locked-room witch hunt spanning Nazi-inspired human experimentation to government-funded conspiracies designed to topple the Communists.
As a disclaimer, I should note that I read the novel this week. I really enjoyed it and was eager to see the film. The novel is a fast, spooky, funny, mind-bending trip filled to overflowing with colorful characters, memorable dialogue, and unsettling nightmarish visuals. The filmmakers, either in an effort to condense the novel or keep to a studio-mandated running time, have trimmed much of these elements to craft their final product.
Not that film is without its merits. Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, delivers a very solid and mature performance. His nuanced portrayal of the wounded hero Teddy Daniels gives the film its center. He's surrounded by a veritable who's who of character actors including Max Von Sydow, Elias Koteas, Jackie Earl Haley, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, and Ted Levine. Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley do admirably well with the under-written parts they were handed.
It just doesn't feel like a "Scorsese picture." The soundtrack is a moody classical score - no anachronistic rock n' roll to be found here. No fast zooms or intricate tracking shots. No highly charismatic villains who we're all secretly rooting for. Even Thelma Schoonmaker, the three-time-Oscar-winning Editor who has worked on all of Scorsese's films, paints the pacing all wrong. At times her overlapping of the dialogue and action create a cacophony of inputs that add to the intensity of the storyline. At other times things seem sloppy after thoughts.
The visual hallucinations in the book feel immediate, urgent, and scary. They focus on the Teddy's unraveling and move the story and the characters to their ultimate crescendo. The film spends too much time focusing on Teddy's flashbacks to the atrocities he witnessed in World War II and on the infanticide that resides at the heart of the story. These sequences felt more ghoulish in the movie than the novel. They are essential to the story, but Scorsese seems to be pushing the wrong buttons - hard.
In the end, this feels like what it is - a studio picture with a high pedigree. Scorsese, who's singular style and vision has crafted some of the most memorable movie moments in the last three decades is handed the unenviable task of committing someone else's solidly realized vision to the screen. Dennis Lehane's novel was like reading a movie, a movie made by a master filmmaker. This picture feels like someone efforting to channel a master filmmaker.
Some will compare this picture to Kubrick's The Shining, the picture in which Stanley channeled Stephen King's work. That movie, while also not hewing extremely close to the source material, is still unsettling to watch. The pace, the sparse music, the utter emptiness of the hotel are haunting and memorable. Shutter Island, on the other hand, fades as you walk from the theater.
I would recommend you read the book of Shutter Island. Then curl up and watch a classic Scorsese movie to get over your fears and get some sleep. Try Goodfellas.
For those who haven't seen the trailer here's the story: a pair of U.S. Marshals are called to Shutter Island to investigate a missing inmate from a high-security asylum for the criminally insane. The patient apparently walked right through the stone walls of her locked cell and is loose somewhere on the forbidding island. What starts as a detective story quickly becomes a locked-room witch hunt spanning Nazi-inspired human experimentation to government-funded conspiracies designed to topple the Communists.
As a disclaimer, I should note that I read the novel this week. I really enjoyed it and was eager to see the film. The novel is a fast, spooky, funny, mind-bending trip filled to overflowing with colorful characters, memorable dialogue, and unsettling nightmarish visuals. The filmmakers, either in an effort to condense the novel or keep to a studio-mandated running time, have trimmed much of these elements to craft their final product.
Not that film is without its merits. Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, delivers a very solid and mature performance. His nuanced portrayal of the wounded hero Teddy Daniels gives the film its center. He's surrounded by a veritable who's who of character actors including Max Von Sydow, Elias Koteas, Jackie Earl Haley, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, and Ted Levine. Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley do admirably well with the under-written parts they were handed.
It just doesn't feel like a "Scorsese picture." The soundtrack is a moody classical score - no anachronistic rock n' roll to be found here. No fast zooms or intricate tracking shots. No highly charismatic villains who we're all secretly rooting for. Even Thelma Schoonmaker, the three-time-Oscar-winning Editor who has worked on all of Scorsese's films, paints the pacing all wrong. At times her overlapping of the dialogue and action create a cacophony of inputs that add to the intensity of the storyline. At other times things seem sloppy after thoughts.
The visual hallucinations in the book feel immediate, urgent, and scary. They focus on the Teddy's unraveling and move the story and the characters to their ultimate crescendo. The film spends too much time focusing on Teddy's flashbacks to the atrocities he witnessed in World War II and on the infanticide that resides at the heart of the story. These sequences felt more ghoulish in the movie than the novel. They are essential to the story, but Scorsese seems to be pushing the wrong buttons - hard.
In the end, this feels like what it is - a studio picture with a high pedigree. Scorsese, who's singular style and vision has crafted some of the most memorable movie moments in the last three decades is handed the unenviable task of committing someone else's solidly realized vision to the screen. Dennis Lehane's novel was like reading a movie, a movie made by a master filmmaker. This picture feels like someone efforting to channel a master filmmaker.
Some will compare this picture to Kubrick's The Shining, the picture in which Stanley channeled Stephen King's work. That movie, while also not hewing extremely close to the source material, is still unsettling to watch. The pace, the sparse music, the utter emptiness of the hotel are haunting and memorable. Shutter Island, on the other hand, fades as you walk from the theater.
I would recommend you read the book of Shutter Island. Then curl up and watch a classic Scorsese movie to get over your fears and get some sleep. Try Goodfellas.
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