Academy Awards

[David]

As much as I loathe them, I can't help but keep half an eye on the Oscars every year. They're about halfway through the ceremony so far�Iranian/French co-production A Separation has taken out best foreign film. Here's my analysis of the films in the running for the top prize:

The Artist: Fun but slight French homage to silent cinema. Nice to see a commercial attempt to recreate the particular aesthetic qualities of the silent era (intertitles, gesture-oriented acting, experimental camera angles), but the actual narrative is kind of predictable. Works far better as a gimmick than it would as an actual relic of early cinema; pales in comparison to actual silent era films like Metropolis and Nosferatu.

The Descendants: Indie film about a family trying to get by while the mother lies in hospital in a coma. Wouldn't interest me apart from the fact that it's directed by Alexander Payne, who was responsible for the excellent Sideways. I'll probably attempt to watch it sometime in the mext couple of weeks. Stars George Clooney.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: By all accounts awful film based on a book by Jonathan Safran Foer (no relation to our Safran!), the author of Everything is Illuminated. Stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock�if you're still game knowing that, you're a braver person than I. I intend to avoid it at all costs.

The Help: The sort of film you'd expect to be produced by Oprah or something�white and black women learn to understand each other and fight for equality in 1960s southern United States. A hit at JB Hi-Fi Malvern; the trailer was enough for me to give it a wide berth.

Hugo: Animated children's film by Martin Scorsese. Doesn't sound so bad from the little I've heard, although I'm not a huge fan of the director.

Midnight in Paris: I love Woody Allen, but there's no way this should have been nominated. Nowhere near the standard of his recent good films (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for instance), let alone his great work of the '70s. It's not a bad film if you can tolerate some wooden caricature acting from Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, combined with an otherwise fun time-travel narrative that turns into an often tedious exercise in name-dropping.

War Horse: Another sickly-sentimental Spielberg film. Next!

Moneyball: Another film I know little about. Has the usually reliable Brad Pitt in it, but how good can a behind-the-scenes-of-professional-baseball film really be? American sports don't do it for me, but I'm willing to consider any positive feedback on the film.

The Tree of Life: The best film of the lot that I've seen, and undoubtedly the only one that deserves to win. Dreamlike, sometimes surreal collection of memories of a young boy in 1950s America. A bit self-indulgent and not without its flaws, but a genuinely good film nonetheless. Already won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, so I don't expect it to win�it'd be a pleasant surprise if it did, though.

Have you seen any of the films? What did you like? What do you think should win?

[3.14159]

i thik i'd see Hugo but the 3D thing puts me off.
too gimmicky and those glasses are uncomfortable
David and Margret gave it 10 stars so....i hav to see it.

Woody Allen, he lost me in the 80's and i see little reasonj to renue the friendship.
The Artist?
Only if it has subtitles.
Decendants? maybe. the misses like a tear-jerker so....
i'd bring her Game-boy.
Warhorse.
Yawn from what i've heard.
Irish Lad spemds 3/4's the film running round a paddock telling his Clydesdale ow march he lovs him and they'll never be separated and then along comes the great War and an accute need for Clydesdales and he spends the last 1/4 running around chasing the bloody thing through potholes on the Western Front......hmmmm.
(as if the horse cares. those things hav a memory that would only challenge a goldfish).
Alternate name, ...Lassie come home".?

the 9-11 film. hmmmm, bollocks,Hanks and a heartbroken kid
....it was 11 years ago, get over it.

Thanxs for the red-pyramids pass David.
i've enjoyed what i read but an opinion?
like ian holmes said in Alien
"I'm still collating"..

[David]

And the winner is: The Artist.

Meryl Streep gets best actress and Jean Dujardin best actor.

[watt price tully]

[stui magpie]

I've heard some interesting things about "Moneyball" the book, apparently it's totally reinvented the sports statistics business and what recruiters look for.

[mandy]

I have no interest in seeing The Artist. Not one little bit. They added sound and colour to movies for a reason.

I loved, loved, loved The Descendants. I don't think it's worthy of a best pic nomination, but I really enjoyed it anyway. Not just Clooney, but every single actor absolutely nailed their character. Do they give Oscars for casting? Because if so this movie deserves it.

I didn't mind The Help. Not sure if I would have bothered unless I'd read the book but they did an ok with the adaptation. Some really amazing acting but the story, as often is, was nowhere are engaging as the book.

I haven't seen Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but intend to. Despite the casting.

Hugo - No interest. Not even really sure what it's about. Don't care.

Midnight in Paris bored me senseless. I turned it off 40 minutes in.

War Horse. See Hugo.

I bought a dodgy copy of Moneyball in Bali. Unfortunately the DVD started jumping and pausing halfway through. Shame really, I was enjoying it. Will definitely find some time to watch a decent copy soon.

The Tree of Life is the single most awful movie I have ever seen in my life. And I sat through Yentl in the cinema! The only reason I lasted through the whole movie was because I was in Gold Class and had already ordered food. Trust me, I gave that button a work out during those 2+ hours ordering extra scotches. It was dumb, and pretentious, and nothing more than a wankfest.

Overall, when you look back at the classics that have won the award for best picture, none of these really compare this year.

[think positive]

[rocketronnie]

I might check out "The Artist" just for Uggie, he's cute.

[Pied Piper]

I'm surprised by your dismissal of Midnight in Paris (and your comparative liking of Vicki Cristina Barcelona, which you seem to be mostly out on a limb on relative to other critics). Midnight in Paris to me was one of the funniest, warmest, most beautifully written Woody Allen film in eons - I'd rate it right up there with Manhattan and Annie Hall. I also thought it had a great deal more to say than its premise as a nostalgic romantic comedy suggested.

[David]

^ fair enough, each to their own. I liked some bits, but I found Owen Wilson grating. There were some good bits of dialogue too�I wanted to like it, but it just seemed a bit more two-dimensional than Woody's usual output (a problem that plagued Whatever Works as well, I thought).

RR, the dog is cute, and a better actor than the guy who actually won the Oscar I thought.

On The Help, I admit that it's wrong of me to judge a film by its cover�or, in this case, its trailer. Perhaps I was unnecessarily harsh. It certainly is getting some buzz with the Ladies of Malvern!

I just watched The Descendants tonight. Felt a bit too convenient at times, but the dialogue was often great. I like Clooney when he gets good roles. The actresses who played the daughters were good too. I give it 3/5.

[luvdids]

I find it amusing when people are outraged at Oscar nomination 'snubs'.

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/awards/oscars/actress-issa-rae-stuns-with-shady-comment-during-oscars-nominations-announcement/news-story/3ed2cb23c3fc2a8d8c36a22a1639b0fb

Women are outraged this year because all the directors nominated are men. There was outrage a few years ago as there were no people of colour nominated. IMHO if they're good enough to be nominated, regardless of sex or colour they would be. Does someone really want a pity nomination, just because they're a woman/coloured/gay etc whatever the case may be??

[think positive]

gees that bump was a head spinner! i read the first post and got very confused til i checked the date!

I agree, sex, colour, whatever, it should be the best. surely the ratings of each movie speak for themselves?

[luvdids]

Yeah, can't accuse me of Alzheimers just yet, knew there was a thread about it somewhere!

Did remind me about Mandy, whatever happened to her I wonder.

[David]

I reckon Little Women is a good chance for best film, so it was a little surprising that Gerwig didn't at least get a best director nomination. But everyone nominated in that category seems a fairly strong choice as these things go (and if she'd made the cut, it might well have been at the expense of the only non-white, non-American nominee, Bong Joon-ho), and when she's pretty much the only female director of a major Oscar contender in the past year, complaining about her omission is, in a way, a demand for tokenism. (Of course if I had my way, Céline Sciamma would be up for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, but I long ago gave up on the Academy Awards even remotely reflecting my film tastes.)

Anyway, for whatever it's worth, here are my tips:

Best Picture: Little Women, with The Irishman, 1917 and Parasite as rough outside chances.
Best Actor: Most likely to come down to Adam Driver for Marriage Story and Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, with Phoenix probably edging Driver out.
Best Actress: No obvious stand-out here – maybe they'll go for the relative unknown in Cynthia Erivo.
Best Director: Have a feeling it'll go to Scorsese for The Irishman.
Best Foreign ... *ahem* Best International Feature Film: Parasite. No way it loses here if it also got a Best Picture nomination.

[luvdids]