Let's watch together.
ADDED: Very interesting having 10 Best Picture nominees. I cheered when they said "A Serious Man." I loved that one. "The Blind Side" is considered a surprise nomination for picture. (The Best Actress nomination for Sandra Bullock was expected.) Here's the trailer. And here's the "Serious Man" trailer.
Since there are only 5 nominees in the director category, it makes it kind of obvious what the 5 Best Picture nominees would be if there were only 5. The upstarts are conspicuous. By the way, there are 2 "up" movies in the Picture category: "Up" and "Up in the Air." "Up" is the upstart. It's also nominated in the separate best animated movie category. "Up" needs to get down and stop being such a category hog.
February 2, 2010
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28 comments:
I'm pulling for Obama's SOTU speech.
Happy Groundhog Day! My favorite holiday of the year.
Peter
Obama will probably get one Best, ah, er, huh, hm, something or other. Just because. Al Gore will present it.
Best comedy will go to Joe Biden. He will also get the Golden Fleece Award.
Best porn film to John Edwards and Rielle Hunter.
Best supporting actress- Marsha Coakley for her portrayal of a politican on TV.
Ted Kennedy will get a posthumous award for his life story- Booze, Broads, and Bucks.
The teleprompter will get the best actor award, best special effects award, and award for best script.
Martha Coakley? Not Caroline Kennedy?
Up in the Air was depressing as hell, especially the people he was firing who said how they felt while he was cutting them off at the knees.
It was in all respects a movie that suggested a final redemptive scene, but there was none, and no lessons were learned. Like A Christmas Carol deleting the last chapters and Scrooge went on as before.
Criminey, I'm still pissed about it!
Up doesn't get everything.
The official marking for boxes is the arrow pointing down next to the legend "dn".
Here is my take on the movies I saw that were nominated for anything:
Avatar - I preferred its original incarnation as Captain Planet on TBS.
Blind Side - I like how rich white people are always there to bail out obese black children.
Julia / Julie (or is it Julie / Julia) - I feel asleep.
Up - I fell asleep again.
Sherlock Holmes - I think it's weird that they replaced Edward Norton for the Mentalist sequel. And anyway, it's pretty much a rip off of the video "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. I want to vacuum like an animal!!!
Harry Potter - a brooding aperitif before the Deathly Hallows.
Just read a list of the nominations, and damn near laid a brick at one of them. Ok, look, I don't care that it's for a technical award and says nothing about the acting (horrid) or script (ibid). But: The whole notion of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and "Oscar" residing in the same sentence without overtones of irony is, to me, a sign of the impending apocalypse. Fine, it's a nomination for Sound Mixing. It's still an Academy Award nomination!
I'll watch a Michael Bay flick for good, escapist fun when all I want out of a movie viewing is an emptying out of the brain (yes, Bay movies serve a function in society). On that level, his movies serve admirably (what red blooded American male doesn't want an occasional orgy of explosions and weaponry? Bay is a violence pornographer, and there are times when the moviewatching diet just needs a dose of good ole escapist cheese). But, the whole notion of validating Bay with an Oscar is, to me, somewhat akin to validating the inventor of crack with a Nobel: Sure, it's medical chemistry. But for the love of God, it's not meant to cure!!
Oh, since we're talking movies, here's a Star Wars reference: Word Verification was poodu. Yes, I have the screenshot to prove it.
Poodu... funny that this word came up, given what it means plus the content of my rant immediately previous to this post.
The main (or real) question is, does anybody really care anymore?
I get the strangest feeling the answer is, "Not since the Duke won in '70".
Didn't see any of them and felt no great desire to do so. The fact that they now need 10 nominees speaks volumes.
Pogo said...
I'm pulling for Obama's SOTU speech.
Probably right.
How is it that Barack Obama has not been nominated for an Oscar? He has a Nobel Peace Prize ... yet no Academy Award?
How can that be?
Al Gore has an Oscar.
Oh, wait ... I get it now.
Al Gore is white.
And Barack Obama isn't.
That explains it.
Racism.
I actually liked Up in the Air before it coalesced into maudlin tripe about being alone.
I'm 50/50 between Avatar and Inglorious Basterds to win best picture. I haven't seen Avatar but I think it has the best chance, especially given the 10 film field. I see Basterds as having an outside chance if there is a backlash against the front runner.
So I probably shouldn't have said 50/50
Florida,
They all ready gave one out to a Black- Halle Berry. They are safe for a few years.
Did I even go see a movie last year?
Other than The Stoning of Soraya M., I don't think so.
Notwithstanding my being a movie buff, I think it is a combination of the price of tickets and the preachy politicization of too much of Hollywood.
I don't need to spend money for people to tell me that I am what is wrong with the world. I can get that for free just watching and listening to Barack Obama on TV.
"Up" needs to get down and stop being such a category hog.
Squirrel!!
WTF,
I went to vote in the Illinois Primary today. They would not let me bring my Oscar nomination list in the polling booth. How am I going to vote for the actor of my choice?
I fell asleep during "Up" too. What a great premise for a cute movie and what a drag it turned into. Why couldn't it stay a cute movie and not drag into a screed about those evil people who want to despoil nature?
Recently I was in NYC and was fortunate enough to catch a showing of Kurasowa's Seven Samurai at a Kurasowa Festival sponsored by Film Forum. The difference between the level that film can reach in the hands of a master and the examples of best picture this year, or for that matter the last several years, is painful. Not that, to take one example, A Serious Man isn't interesting. But where is largeness of vision or breadth of ambition nowadays? Where is soul? Maybe large souls are over, they're so...yesterday.
"Skyler said...
I fell asleep during "Up" too. What a great premise for a cute movie and what a drag it turned into. Why couldn't it stay a cute movie and not drag into a screed about those evil people who want to despoil nature?"
Up??... don't you mean Avatar? ;)
(*Ducks*)
I saw A Serious Man-really bad.
Full of hate and couldn't be bothered to be anything more than mundane about it.
If their point was to make people aware-they were gutless about it-so still crap.
Oh and no respect for their audience which probably comes from their same problem-illustrated by their movie.
Reminded me of the movie version of the Nirvana song-
In Bloom
Good song, crap movie.
Sorry.
If you liked their movie, they hate you.
Simple.
yeah, I guess that review fit for Avatar too. I guess there's a trend.
The Hurt Locker was terrific. I liked A Serious Man, as well.
Of course, Avatar will probably win. Titanic beat out L.A. Confidential for Best Picture (just like Dances with Wolves beat out Goodfellas).
No one will watch Avatar in 10 years, but the Hurt Locker will be a classic.
A best picture winner should be a complete film. A James Cameron movie, because it always bears the high cheese factor from his terrible writing, will never be a complete film. But that fucker will probably win.
I'd love to see Inglourious Basterds win. Does anyone really think that Forrest Gump was a better picture than Pulp Fiction? Not a chance.
Skyler: "Why couldn't [Up] stay a cute movie and not drag into a screed about those evil people who want to despoil nature?"
Did you really mean Up? If so, what were you referring to? The construction crew?
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