Les Miserables is total Oscar bait. I hate movies that so obviously pander to the academy. But I'm going to see it because it looks fantastic.
It is total Oscar bait, but I'm not sure that is the result of pandering to the Academy, certainly not directly. If anything did any pandering, it is the big-ticket musical that the movie is based on which was designed to appeal to the same massive, well-educated, well-off audience that made the producers of Cats a fortune. And it certainly did that. In the process, the original theatrical version of Les Mis may have hoped to win an Olivier Award in the UK and/or a Tony Award in the US, but its likely appeal to the Academy is just an advantageous byproduct of its original conception.
100% with 16 reviews. I think there's some bias there and in Hollywood for both this story and Kathryn Bigelow in general. Hurt Locker absolutely did not deserve the awards it got.
Les Miserables is total Oscar bait. I hate movies that so obviously pander to the academy. But I'm going to see it because it looks fantastic.
I wish Dark Knight Rises would win something.
You are allowed to have your opinion, but of the nine other Best Picture nominees in 2009, what do you consider better than The Hurt Locker? It was a weak year.
The only other film that might have made a claim to either Best Picture and Director is Avatar, but that film is tripe served in 3D.
I don't get why you think Hollywood loves Bigelow. She had never even been nominated before, and this was her first movie in 7 years. I really don't think anyone cared about her sex.
You might have a case for Original Screenplay, but is your opinion really that strong on its wins in Sound Editing and Mixing? I assume you meant only the major awards.
Just got back from Silver Linings Playbook which I found to be amazing.
Cooper and Lawrence gave arguably their best career performances and should be a shoe-in for nominations. Doubt they will win but they deserve the recognition for that movie - DeNiro was amazing too.
I get the feeling that Zero Dark Thirty is going to clean up at the Oscars. I wasn't a fan of The Hurt Locker but I'm willing to give Bigelow the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe she (finally) made a Best Picture.
You are allowed to have your opinion, but of the nine other Best Picture nominees in 2009, what do you consider better than The Hurt Locker? It was a weak year.
I find the Hurt Locker to be disturbingly unauthentic. That's why it bothers me, and why I think that movie gets way too much praise. Some of the scenes absolutely bother the **** out of me and my penchant for realism in a war setting film. Hopefully Zero Dark Thirty is different, because of the source material (stuff like No Easy Day) it is based on. Here's hoping they hired some decent coordinators to make sure everything looks right. Scenes like the .50 cal sniper crap in Hurt Locker were terrible and undercut the movie. Boal better not pull stuff like that out of his ass for this movie. Expectations are a lot higher.
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Originally Posted by le_sean
I don't get why you think Hollywood loves Bigelow. She had never even been nominated before, and this was her first movie in 7 years. I really don't think anyone cared about her sex.
She was the first woman to win. I think there's bias there because she is also directing a movie in a genre that would traditionally not be associated with a woman. I am really curious to see how ZDT turns out, as by all accounts it's a pretty dramatic step forward from Hurt Locker. Don't get me wrong, the latter is a terrific movie, but the praise heaped upon it is misguided.
Quote:
Originally Posted by le_sean
You might have a case for Original Screenplay, but is your opinion really that strong on its wins in Sound Editing and Mixing? I assume you meant only the major awards.
Sound mixing should have gone to Star Trek or Transformers, in that order.
I hated The Hurt Locker but man oh man am I ever excited for Zero Dark Thirty. It has garnered nothing but absolute rave reviews from trusted critics, and so far I've seen this movie been compared to David Fincher's Zodiac (with tit being a meticulous attention to detail character piece / manhunt) and Akira Kurosawa's movies.
Last edited by chuppa chupp: 12-05-2012 at 12:32 AM.
Well this has already been said, but Anne Hathaway is a supporting actress in Les Mis.
I know, d'oh. Did you interpret it that way? Your original comment seemed to imply Lawrence would best Hathaway. I totally thought AH would be nom'd for a lead actress, my bad.
Zero Dark Thirty will be overrated just like Hurt Locker.
Assuming for sake of argument that The Hurt Locker was overrated (which I don't think it was), why does that mean that Zero Dark Thirty will be overrated, too?
Assuming for sake of argument that The Hurt Locker was overrated (which I don't think it was), why does that mean that Zero Dark Thirty will be overrated, too?
Because its going to end up winning Best Picture at the Oscars, so the phrase "overrated" will inevitably be thrown around, like with all Best Picture winners.
I find the Hurt Locker to be disturbingly unauthentic. That's why it bothers me, and why I think that movie gets way too much praise. Some of the scenes absolutely bother the **** out of me and my penchant for realism in a war setting film. Hopefully Zero Dark Thirty is different, because of the source material (stuff like No Easy Day) it is based on. Here's hoping they hired some decent coordinators to make sure everything looks right. Scenes like the .50 cal sniper crap in Hurt Locker were terrible and undercut the movie. Boal better not pull stuff like that out of his ass for this movie. Expectations are a lot higher.
She was the first woman to win. I think there's bias there because she is also directing a movie in a genre that would traditionally not be associated with a woman. I am really curious to see how ZDT turns out, as by all accounts it's a pretty dramatic step forward from Hurt Locker. Don't get me wrong, the latter is a terrific movie, but the praise heaped upon it is misguided.
Sound mixing should have gone to Star Trek or Transformers, in that order.
Thanks for the mature response.
Speaking of Sound Mixing and Editing, eliminating those from Oscar night would save some time. The producers try to get these people off the stage as quick as possible anyways. Award the technical and costume achievements another night, and add Best Ensemble.
Speaking of Sound Mixing and Editing, eliminating those from Oscar night would save some time. The producers try to get these people off the stage as quick as possible anyways. Award the technical and costume achievements another night, and add Best Ensemble.
I think they do the tech awards much quicker than the make up, wardrobe and set design and whatever stuff.
Speaking of Sound Mixing and Editing, eliminating those from Oscar night would save some time. The producers try to get these people off the stage as quick as possible anyways. Award the technical and costume achievements another night, and add Best Ensemble.
I vehemently disagree. Sure, those categories aren't as exciting as the big ones, but those people deserve their time in the sun, as brief as it is, for doing something very important that they aren't usually given enough credit for.
Just got back from Silver Linings Playbook which I found to be amazing.
Cooper and Lawrence gave arguably their best career performances and should be a shoe-in for nominations. Doubt they will win but they deserve the recognition for that movie - DeNiro was amazing too.
Speaking of Sound Mixing and Editing, eliminating those from Oscar night would save some time. The producers try to get these people off the stage as quick as possible anyways. Award the technical and costume achievements another night, and add Best Ensemble.
I don't really have much of a problem with that, except for costume design which is important to a lot of women viewers (including the ones I live with, so I got to fight the good fight here).
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Originally Posted by DuckJet
Who's gonna beat Jennifer Lawrence?
As Mel Lastman, a former mayor of Toronto, used to say in his furniture ads, "NOOOOBODY!" (Man, doesn't Rob make Mel look good. Holy hell, who would have thought that possible?)
Kon Tiki: it seems to be getting some buzz in the foreign language film category, but while I enjoyed it, I don't think it is anywhere near strong enough to deserve a nomination.
Looks like Argo's early lead is drastically melting away.
Looks like Argo's early lead is drastically melting away.
To be fair, it's tough to maintain momentum when you're first out of the gate. Remember when The Social Network was a slamdunk for a couple of months until The King's Speech showed up?
We'll see what things look like when the dust settles. Obviously all the hype is going to be surrounding the new toys (Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty) for now, but who knows how we'll feel about those come late January.
I wasn't able to make it to the theatre at all this week, which means I'm still behind on Lincoln, Killing Them Softly, Anna Karenina...stressing me out!
I don't agree with eliminating any of the tech categories - especially from a standpoint of someone that has worked in those fields. The general populace already doesn't give those guys the credit they deserve (ESPECIALLY audio), don't take away award recognition too.
Well Kihei, you should probably be happy about the LA Critics Awards. Amour wins best picture, Phoenix wins actor, Lawrence/Riva tie for actress, Skyfall wins for cinematography.
Zero Dark Thirty will be overrated just like Hurt Locker.
Hurt Locker is an original story but ZDT has to follow a real life storyline. All indications are that they did a great job. I was pleased to see the "how many of you have been in a helicopter crash?" comment from No Easy Day (a book one of the SEALs wrote about the raid) made it in. I would think that critics would have it out for a movie that could easily be viewed as propaganda, given the subject matter, but reportedly the events are presented in a very amoral way. It's currently @ 100% with 24 reviews on rt and has won a few best picture picks so far in what is a pretty loaded field.
Looks like Argo's early lead is drastically melting away.
Yeah, it's very hard to maintain that lead when you've come out so early. It seems like a long time since Argo came out, and while I still put it among my favorite movies of the year, movies that come out at that time rarely ever win best picture. It also has the inconvenience of coming out too late for a big re-release push. It's still in theaters now, it's not like The Hurt Locker, which came out initially in summer, and got a late re-release.
Well Kihei, you should probably be happy about the LA Critics Awards. Amour wins best picture, Phoenix wins actor, Lawrence/Riva tie for actress, Skyfall wins for cinematography.
Had Trintignant gotten a co-win with Phoenix, that would have been perfect, but, I'm sure not complaining. Great result from LA.
Zero Dark Thirty with a 99 out of 100 after 10 reviews on Metacritic. Their system isn't really the most accurate I've ever seen, but regardless, I've never seen a score that high after getting 10 or more reviews.
Meanwhile Les Mis scored a 55 after 7 reviews. 80 was its highest score.
. Did you interpret it that way? Your original comment seemed to imply Lawrence would best Hathaway. I totally thought AH would be nom'd for a lead actress, my bad.
