I enjoyed Argo but it was really Affleck-ish. Like, well-executed, but unsurprising and occasionally aimless. Affleck is a great scene writer but I thought his scene choice fell apart halfway through. Probably enjoyed The Town more and I wasn't really into that one either.
FTR I'm 100% behind GWH winning best screenplay when it did.
Thought he had considerable, well, input considering...
Either way, the direction and decisions felt 'Affleck-ish' for better/worse. Enjoyable film that I thought got into a holding pattern about half-way through.
Having just watched Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway better win Best Supporting Actress. Despite not caring for the movie overall, I thought her performance was one of the best I've ever seen in film.
Having just watched Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway better win Best Supporting Actress. Despite not caring for the movie overall, I thought her performance was one of the best I've ever seen in film.
Having won at the Golden Globes and the SAG awards, DDL is a pretty safe bet as well. Vegas odds are in the 1 to 20 and 1 to 50 range. Jackman is the closes competitor with 10 to 1 odds.
That said, I think that the most guaranteed win is Amour for Foreign Language film
Ah, really? One of the best movies of last year to me, along with Lincoln and Les Miserables. Made me think about violence in movies like no other script did last year.
Argo is going to win best picture even though I am not even sure it is my top 5 movies this year, it is exactly what Oscars and awards shows love to give it to and the Weinstein push behind it as usual will play a big part, yes he is behind SLP also, but we all know Argo is his baby he wants it to win. I enjoyed Argo, but like the past Ben Afflect directed movies all are very good but not great like some are pushing it as some amazing movie.
I'm a little peeved about Silver not picking up the Best Ensemble SAG. I'd argue that pretty much kills the film's last chance at a surprise BP win. It's now Lincoln & Argo - and Argo's lack of a Director nod is a pretty massive nail in that coffin.
Lack of director nod is now more of a outlier rather than a true lack of support. Director portion of ampas is fairly small. Argo has carried producers and actors
I've finally seen them all now and I must say it's a great collection of movies this year. This is how I would rank them.
1. Argo
I had never seen anything Ben Affleck has directed and despite hearing a lot of good things about the movie I thought that I wouldn't like it much. But man, was I wrong. I was completely blown away by this and now I must watch his other work. This is the movie that deserves the Oscar.
2. Amour
Right after watching the movie I would probably have ranked it lower, but the movie has stayed with me in a way few movies do. Terrific performances by both leading actors.
3. Django Unchained
I'm a huge QT fan and he sure didn't disappoint me with Django. Such a fun movie. Waltz was awesome and Foxx was better than expected. Probably my favorite QT movie after Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds.
4. Life of Pi
I rank Life of Pi this high primarily because how mind-blowingly beautiful it was. But it was also a nice little story with some surprisingly deep philosophical parts. I think I have to watch it again to properly appreciate it.
5. Zero Dark Thirty
I have not seen the Hurt Locker so I didn't really know what to expect going in. But the movie kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It's however a bit event-centric and I feel that hurts the character development a bit. Despite a great performance by Chastain I couldn't really connect with her struggles and feelings.
6. Silver Linings Playbook
I wanted to rank this higher because I really enjoyed it, but still this is where I place it. Cooper was surprisingly great and really managed to pull of the character. There is a scene where he says that Jennifer Lawrance's character lacks social skills. That scene could have been comedic in a "haha, he doesn't get the irony in that statement" kind of way, but instead you just feel sad for him. Jennifer Lawrance is stunningly beautiful and awesome, but what was up with the iPods all the time?
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
Very pretty little movie and a great performance by Quvenzhané Wallis (and this is from someone who normally has problems with child actors). It felt a bit thought that just as the movie was starting to ramp up it was over.
8. Les Misérables
I liked it but I think that it's more due the fact that I think it's a great classic story than that there was anything special with this particular version. Anne Hathaway's "I dreamed a dream" was perfect though. But Russell Crowe can't sing. At all.
9. Lincoln
Just to get it out of the way - Daniel Day-Lewis was born to play Lincoln and he does it hauntingly well. But I didn't really get what this movie was trying to be. Sometimes it felt like a political thriller, but without any real suspense.
As an example, when Lincoln makes the Confederate negotiators wait on the river boat it would have been great with a scene watching them get more and more annoyed to at least give some sense of urgency to the situation.
And sometimes it was trying to be a historical drama, but then again it was more focused on the characters than on the events. Maybe it's because I'm not from the US. I get that the movie is showing an important piece of history, but maybe I'm just not getting it.
My personal Best Picture rankings list after watching all 9 nominees...
1) Django Unchained
2) Silver Linings Playbook
3) Beasts of the Southern Wild
4) Argo
5) Life of Pi
6) Lincoln (still my pick to win)
7) Zero Dark Thirty
8) Les Miserables
9) Amour (despite the great performances)
Having just watched Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway better win Best Supporting Actress. Despite not caring for the movie overall, I thought her performance was one of the best I've ever seen in film.
I think jb1234 presented it best (albeit with a positive slant).
Amour being so relentless and soul-crushing was kind of a detraction for me. I "get the idea" after 20-25 minutes or so and then I'm just hammered and hammered with it until I'm absolutely numb. I felt the same way about Compliance last year.
The performances were stellar (Trintignant probably rated an Oscar nom as well) but given how it was shot I think I would have rather seen Amour on stage in a theater as a play. At least then I wouldn't have had to watch two minutes of paintings and another 5 minutes of chasing a pigeon around. Plus, that ending just left me flat.
I think jb1234 presented it best (albeit with a positive slant).
Amour being so relentless and soul-crushing was kind of a detraction for me. I "get the idea" after 20-25 minutes or so and then I'm just hammered and hammered with it until I'm absolutely numb. I felt the same way about Compliance last year.
The performances were stellar (Trintignant probably rated an Oscar nom as well) but given how it was shot I think I would have rather seen Amour on stage in a theater as a play. At least then I wouldn't have had to watch two minutes of paintings and another 5 minutes of chasing a pigeon around. Plus, that ending just left me flat.
I didn't find it to be as relentless and soul-crushing as you say. More of a simplistic, caring and beautiful view on these people who are going through a rough time. It was moving, but not because it kept hammering or tried to force those emotions. If it were a theater play it wouldn't be Amour because this is an auteur's work. Not a spoiler, but
I liked the ending, found it thought provoking (though it was quite clinical).
1) Lincoln: I really liked it. Loved Spielberg's approach (and I find Spielberg's dramatic efforts to be quite hit or miss), loved Kushner's script, loved DDL and TLJ. Should've ended five minutes earlier.
2) Django Unchained
3) Silver Linings Playbook: Even if it has a terrible third act and basically betrays its own premise Sunshine-style, I still enjoyed it.
4) Life of Pi
5) Argo: Love you Ben, but this was pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Big disappointment compared to the Town or Gone Baby Gone.
no direction nod makes it an uphill battle, even if it has a lot of momentum. Then again, not a whole lot of the awards up until this point really matter besides the SAG. DGA will be telling.
I'm very tempted to skip Les Mis. I HATE the musical, with the trashy Andrew Lloyd Webberesque songs and cheesy melodrama with one-dimensional characters. Adding bad singers to the mix just makes it even worse.
I'm very tempted to skip Les Mis. I HATE the musical, with the trashy Andrew Lloyd Webberesque songs and cheesy melodrama with one-dimensional characters. Adding bad singers to the mix just makes it even worse.
I LOVE the musical and I could have easily passed on watching Les Mis. Hathaway isn't THAT great. And you will despise it if you don't care for the music.
I LOVE the musical and I could have easily passed on watching Les Mis. Hathaway isn't THAT great. And you will despise it if you don't care for the music.
Nah. I can think of several (mostly Sondheim, granted) which do far more with their characters. They're not common but they're out there. Les Mis has other problems too but the main one is that the music isn't good enough for me to overcome the issue that it's hard to care about anything happening.
I LOVE the musical and I could have easily passed on watching Les Mis. Hathaway isn't THAT great. And you will despise it if you don't care for the music.
I wanted to watch all nine too, but that will prove difficult. I think I'm going to watch Silver Linings Playbook this weekend, but I can't find Argo or Amour anywhere near me. I kept missing Argo back when it was out, and it's kinda gone for good before the Oscars I think.
I wanted to watch all nine too, but that will prove difficult. I think I'm going to watch Silver Linings Playbook this weekend, but I can't find Argo or Amour anywhere near me. I kept missing Argo back when it was out, and it's kinda gone for good before the Oscars I think.
Yeah, you're not going to find Amour outside of major cities (and even then, it can be rough. Just two theaters showing it in the greater Seattle area).
I don't know where else to post this but I didn't want to start a separate thread. On Friday night I went to see all of the nominated animated short films for this year's Oscars. I had a really great time. All of the films were assembled along with 2 additional shorts in order to produce a total run time of about 90 minutes (an interview with last year's winners was interspersed through the footage).
I don't know where else to post this but I didn't want to start a separate thread. On Friday night I went to see all of the nominated animated short films for this year's Oscars. I had a really great time. All of the films were assembled along with 2 additional shorts in order to produce a total run time of about 90 minutes (an interview with last year's winners was interspersed through the footage).