OT - Oscar Noms out
I normally would not post here on something this far off-topic, but the anticipation for signing day has led to a dozen "predictions", "suprises", "knight to rutgers" threads a shade before noon. So I offer a distraction if anyone is interested in discussing.
I am glad Hurt Locker got the respect it deserved, especially Renner for lead actor...great great movie, highly recommend.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:40 AM ^
I hope he's either a safety, OL, or legit NT.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 AM ^
what is so great about Up In The Air? From the trailers it looks just like all the other "work-aholic's mid-life epiphany" movie.
"I make a lot of money and have sex with different women"
"don't you want to start a family?"
"no. I'm happy"
"are you? what if things were different?"
"oh my god. I'm not happy"
**Iggy Pop/David Bowie/Classic Rock/Indie Rock montage of dude changing his life.**
**look, he's dancing and laughing. the old main character would never be caught dancing, laughing or not wearing shoes.**
"I'm a family man now."
Roll Credits
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
I liked it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
Did you actually see the movie?
Shocking...a trailer for a movie doesn't accurately depict how the movie will play out?!
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^
which is why I am asking. Is there a twist or something? Let me guess. He doesn't take the promotion in New York (or L.A.) and decides to stay in Chicago.
It looks like a slight variation of those two Nicholas Cage movies: The Family Man and The Weather Man.
I mean aside from George Clooney being a better actor than Nicholas Cage, how is this movie drawing rave reviews and best picture nods?
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^
jam706 outlines a few of the reason (superior acting and dialogue). There is a semi-surprising twist towards the end as well.
What made it different/special to me was how they used his job (works for a company hired to communicate layoffs at other companies) and his interaction with the people he fired. A creative way to pull fiction and reality (recession / economic downturn) together and give a face to all the people losing their jobs.
There were some awesome scenes in that movie...
Oh...and Vera Farmiga is smokin' hot.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
Oh...and Vera Farmiga is smokin' hot.I'll second that. She got on my radar in The Departed. That said, The Hurt Locker is far and away the best movie I have seen in the last few years. It blew away the Toronto International Film Festival, and if it wins Best Picture it will mark an increasing trend of TIFF favorites becoming sleeper Oscar winners. I really don't want Avatar to win any but technical awards.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^
I mean aside from George Clooney being a better actor than Nicholas Cage, how is this movie drawing rave reviews and best picture nods?Because it's been a really weak year for movies and you have to nominate something. I can't remember a movie season where there were so few quality films. I've seen most of the films nominated and only "Hurt Locker" is Oscar-worthy IMO. In any other year, most of the films on the nomination list, wouldn't even be considered. When "Avatar" is winning Golden Globes for Best Picture, you've heard all you need to know about the quality of the competition.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^
You don't think Precious was Oscar worthy or did you even see it?????
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
Your summary was fairly close to the movie's storyline (I don't want to explain where it goes wrong and ruin the movie for anyone), but Up in the Air was special for a couple reasons. The writing, the dialogue specifically, and the acting are what separates movies like these. Both were very impressive, and I thought that every performance was fantastic. There are good and bad movies of every mold, but I thought Michael Clayton (plot = standard legal thriller) was excellent for the same reasons.
That said, maybe this type of movie just isn't for you. And the Hurt Locker should win best picture.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^
George Clooney only sleeps with one woman throughout the movie who ends up breaking his heart. Did it make me cry? Yes. In my opinion, that warrants an Oscar nom.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
The Hurt Locker is really good, very well deserved.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
Best picture is really interesting this year with all the science fiction and even a cartoon!
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
I like that they are recognizing Pixar in this category finally.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
imo, WALL-E should have won (it definitely should have been nominated)..
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^
but I feel the need to say it again. What was so special about Avatar that it's up for best picture? The story line has been done many times before, the acting wasn't anything great and the writing was pretty blah (I see you). Yeah it looked good but I really don't think that's enough to warrant an Oscar nom.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^
was that if you saw it in 3D it was a fun trip to the theater. Its not going to be half as good on DVD at home or Thanksgiving weekend 2012 on Fox.
I think thats enough to get it a courtesy best picture nomination. Especially with 10 movies in the race.
And the fact that they spent all that money on such a ridiculous premise and it didn't turn out like Waterworld or The Postman is probably an achievement unto itself. Kind of like Lord Of The Rings.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
If there's a Best Looking Picture category, Avatar should win. But that's it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
Screen writing is its own category. Acting has 4 categories. Best picture is supposed to get everything rolled into one. The movie has 8 other nominations and rightfully so. Now, if I told you that a movie had 9 Oscar nominations, wouldn't you assume that it had a very good chance at winning best picture?
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
Nearly all Avatar's nominations are in technical categories (best art direction, best film editing, best visual effects, etc). In those cases, sure, it's deserving. But the limited range of nominations (with no nominations for performances) should indicate it doesn't deserve best picture. It looked great, but as a complete movie, it wasn't great.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
No acting nominations there, either
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
It had worthwhile source material -- it wasn't just a vehicle for new special effects.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
But I understand your point
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:09 PM ^
Yeah but you have to look at what categories it's nominated for. Art Direction, Cinematography, Music,Sound, etc and Best Director. Those things are very important aspects to movies but a best picture should be something other than looking and sounding good. Being nominated for 8 Oscars is great and I'm sure Avatar deserves those noms but I personally don't think the movie was good enough to be a Best Picture.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^
You have to remember that it's the movie industry that votes on the awards, and for them Avatar was as revolutionary a movie as any. The visual effects are unprecedented, even if the story was perhaps lacking.
Also, money matters. They invested half a billion dollars in the movie, and still made over $1 billion in profits, which is crazy. That's the only thing that could stop the Hurt Locker from winning, IMO - it only made $12 million domestically
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
Then again, they voted for Annie Hall over A New Hope, and that was with a vocally dismissive Woody Allen not even attending the ceremony to accept. Although Best Picture is a producing award. Sometimes, sometimes art wins at the Oscars, rarely.
edit: not to say A New Hope isn't art. But c'mon... Annie Hall!
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^
More recently, they picked Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan in 1998. (I think most people agree this was a mistake, though, whereas 1977 has people on both sides)
But even Annie Hall grossed over $100 million in today's box office dollars; The Hurt Locker sold less than 2 million tickets.
I agree with your comment on An Education below, as well. I think Alfred Molina > Matt Damon for supporting actor
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:37 PM ^
Definitely. God, was he good in that.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
Any of you guys see An Education? What did you think about it?
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:20 PM ^
It was awesome. Really worth checking out, which you can do for free at ninjavideo.net. Not a plug, just a really useful website. I'll stop mentioning it.
It's a Nick Hornby penned screenplay based on an autobiography of a British schoolgirl in the early 1960s. It basically captures perfectly the feelings of every teenager from the suburbs who wants to go to the city, as well as the whole sexual coming-of-age, tastefully done. It's British, so I'll call it "exquisite" and "brilliant", both apt I think. It's not a chick flick, if that's what you were wondering.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
The Hurt Locker probably should win best picture, but did anyone see Up? that movie was absolutely hilarious, a great heart warming story.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
I have seen Hurt Locker and it is indeed a very good movie...
However Precious is much better. Now that might not be your type of movie.....but in overall terms of content and acting....Precious was better.
I was a little disappointed the Hangover was not nominated at least.....in terms of comedy that was a funny movie...
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
Up was a great movie. Probabably the best Pixar movie I've ever seen (even better than Wall-E). I'll even admit, I shed a tear at the beginning of the movie. In normal years it wouldn't have been nominated, but this year they expanded the list to 10 movies, too allow for the Wall-E and Ups of the world to be nominated.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^
The first thing I thought of from your post title was an ornery green muppet sitting in a garbage can gorging on cookies.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
So...I thought this thread would be about Oscar the Grouch stealing and devouring The Cookie Monster's stash. Honestly.
Okay, wow, I didn't see that post two before mine. I guess I'm glad I wasn't the only one.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^
How can it not win?
Blow.Shit.Up
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
I'll probably get negged for this, but Avatar is the most overrated movie in a long time. The dialogue, unoriginality of the storyline and the lame one-on-one fight sequence at the end left much to be desired.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
but if I had my way I'd take an Avatar-quality blockbuster effort over the latest Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich movie.
You may think its overrated, but it could have been way worse.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^
I can't argue with you on that. It was definitely still good, just not as good as everyone is saying IMO.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
It usual means money for me. This will be our 10th Oscar pool...and when you're 9 time defending champ (with some ties), there's a bit of pressure. ;-)
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^
I think they are a joke. It's all politics, rarely does the actor/actress/director that deserves the award win, and many times they are not even nominated for whatever reasons. They kinda make me wanna puke actually, but I bet ten bucks i'll still end up watching the damned thing.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:19 PM ^
I loved Avatar, and I'm going to see it again. I found it truly amazing to watch. The visual aspects were amazing. 3D has come a LONG way from the paper red/blue lenses. And I loved James Horner's score.
That said, I left the theater knowing that it'd get a best pic nod, and thinking it shouldn't. The acting (particularly from the human characters) is unremarkable, and the story line is nothing new, really. Some of the dialogue is just plain dumb, in the same way Titanic's dialogue was dumb. (I'm actually more inclined to say "dumbed down".)
Also.... UGH! What's up with TEN best pic nominations?? Don't they usually just do five? Invariably, the noms come out, and I moan that I've only seen one or two, and I try to catch the rest. This year, it means I've got nine movies to see! (Yeah, I don't get to the movies that often.... I keep a schedule that would kill most people my age.)
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
Did anyone else think this was one of the most amazing movies of the year? Managed to combine amazing imagery with an original and well laid out story, and was so surprisingly enjoyable to me.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
The Oscars have been dead to me ever since Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^
I want Inglourious Basterds to win Best Picture, and I'll be hoping until my dreams get crushed on Oscar night. I'm just glad it got nominated, given how many people really didn't get it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 PM ^
Christoph Waltz deserves to win Best Supporting Actor...His performance was top-notch.