• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Oscar Voter reveals horrible opinions: "No Art to Selma" 'Boyhood' "Uneven" "Crap"

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ridley327

Member
^All award shows are rubbish unless our favorite projects win.




Yeah but it wasn't animated.

Doesn't matter, since the rules for the category allow for substantially more live-action footage than you think:

An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of more than 40 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.

For comparison's sake, previous winner Happy Feet had a similar scene towards its conclusion.
 

Toothless

Member
One of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. A brilliant exploration of a childhood. Opinions, eh?

Exactly. The GAF backlash here is legitimately shocking to me. Backlash on Birdman please! It's a good movie, but if it wins BP over Whiplash, Budapest, or Boyhood, that's utterly ridiculous.
 

Cmerrill

You don't need to be empathetic towards me.
Am I alone in thinking Matthew McConaughey should have been nominated for an award?

The
Tesseract scene
alone had me balling like a big baby.
 
Did you know Boyhood took 12 years to make?

Wait, how long did Boyhood take to make?

You ruined the joke!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzhpbXQDl6g

Boyhood, It's fucking amazing!

Boyhood! It took 12 years to make! Took longer than it took to build the fucking wall of chinaaaaaaa

^ You guys are too slow on the draw already made reference, original reference do not steal
 
Yes, and every comment from the last 12 years is now invalid.

sequel already in the making
S67aOz3.jpg
Puppyhood
 
First, let me say that I'm tired of all of this talk about "snubs" — I thought for every one of [the snubs] there was a justifiable reason. What no one wants to say out loud is that Selma is a well-crafted movie, but there's no art to it. If the movie had been directed by a 60-year-old white male, I don't think that people would have been carrying on about it to the level that they were.

Agree. It felt like a made-for-tv film. It was good, but it was a really boring by-the-numbers documentary. I found it surprisingly passionless compared to something like Milk for example.

If you told me when I saw Boyhood that it would win best picture — or even be in the running — I would have told you that you were insane. Watching it, I thought it was ambitious and a directorial triumph, but the kid was uneven and Patricia Arquette probably was sorry she agreed to let them film her age over 12 years. I never thought, "Wow, this is the one!"

Agreed. Boyhood is overrated garbage, and I thought the Before Trilogy was decent. The dude has one schtick, and Ethan Hawke is attached at the end of it. The gimmick got stale haflway through the second Before film.

I put in the Inherent Vice screener, and it became apparent that it's a terrible, incoherent movie, so I turned it off. I thought it was not possible for me to hate something more than I hated The Master, but I hated this more.

Agree. PTA keeps making one ineffable mess after another. As I said in that other thread, Phoenix and Brolin and great, but it doesn't help.

Guess I have terrible opinions, OP. I wonder how I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Is "Interstellar" not nominated for an Oscar?

I fucking hope note. That movie referenced Heart of Darkness and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night within the same 60 seconds. 2edgelord5me.
 

Blader

Member
Agreed. Boyhood is overrated garbage, and I thought the Before Trilogy was decent. The dude has one schtick, and Ethan Hawke is attached at the end of it. The gimmick got stale haflway through the second Before film.

Ignoring the fact that Linklater has made other films than these four, what exactly is the shtick here? People?
 

Ridley327

Member
Thanks for clarifying.

I don't know who it was that posited this theory, but they stated what may have hurt The LEGO Movie is that it's more outwardly a straight-up comedy than the other nominees. It seems kind of strange when you consider that the category's first-ever winner was Shrek, which was an out-and-out comedy, but the Pixar dominance since then may have skewed things a bit where the voters prefer a bit more "meat" on their bones. It is weird considering The LEGO Movie has a really nice message in it that feels especially poignant these days, but perhaps they wanted something that was a bit less manic as a delivery device.

Or maybe they really hated the LEGO sets they bought their grandkids since they kept stepping on the pieces.
 
Ignoring the fact that Linklater has made other films than these four, what exactly is the shtick here? People?

I'm gonna do Cinéma vérité over long periods of time because real lives about people with real problems are so interesting and insightful.

Yes, he's done other things, like making the mistake of partnering with Jack Black for multiple films, but his claim to fame as of late are the Before films and Boyhood.
 
I don't know who it was that posited this theory, but they stated what may have hurt The LEGO Movie is that it's more outwardly a straight-up comedy than the other nominees. It seems kind of strange when you consider that the category's first-ever winner was Shrek, which was an out-and-out comedy, but the Pixar dominance since then may have skewed things a bit where the voters prefer a bit more "meat" on their bones. It is weird considering The LEGO Movie has a really nice message in it that feels especially poignant these days, but perhaps they wanted something that was a bit less manic as a delivery device.

Or maybe they really hated the LEGO sets they bought their grandkids since they kept stepping on the pieces.

Old man yells at cloud made out of lego
 

Barzul

Member
I dated an Academy member before. During awards season, he would invite me over and we would make dinner, hang out for a little bit. When its time to watch the DVD he got of a nominated film, he would pop it in and we would cuddle on his bed. Fifteen minutes later, he would be snoring. The next day, he would mail the dvds back...

That's how he saw almost single nominee that year.
What do you even have to do to be a member. Can you just like sign up?
 

Ridley327

Member
"It's karma for Harvey Weinstein."

Hah. Say what you will about the rest of her comments, but this one was pretty good.

The brilliance of Harvey Weinstein is that for how hated that man is, he sure knows how to keep roping in the rubes that talk shit about him. I can't even hate on a guy that knows how to work that crowd so well.

Other transgressions are a different matter entirely...
 
They might. The shooting schedule is one of the big talking points, yes, but I've heard just as many people say what they REALLY appreciated is the way the childhood was portrayed - that it was a film made up of all the "in-between" moments that you normally don't see in a coming-of-age movie, and the accumulation of those moments is what led to the film packing the punch they felt.

I never really felt that punch, myself (I tended to feel like the movie would have been a lot stronger if there was more of a focus on Arquette and Hawke's characters, honestly) but I think even if Linklater had just cast 4 or 5 different boys to play the lead throughout the movie, you'd still see praise for the movie's decision to play the coming-of-age film as less pop song and more jazz - it's about the notes you're not playing, and all that shit.
I can understand that but, with Jazz, I feel more compulsion forward than just the marching forward of time. I didn't feel anything like that with Boyhood. Maybe it needed more direction?

DerZuhälter;152639057 said:
Boyhood feels overly long, boring, weird, exciting at times but ultimately quite aimless, hollow and vapid.
Just like the movie. Maybe that was its point but I didn't enjoy it, although I see the colossal task of filming and editing over the course of 12 years.
This is where I am with it though, if somebody wrote up a great analysis or appreciation for the flick, I'd definitely give it a second chance.
 
I can understand that but, with Jazz, I feel more compulsion forward than just the marching forward of time. I didn't feel anything like that with Boyhood. Maybe it needed more direction?

I think Linklater got hamstrung a little with the choice of lead, honestly. Dude just didn't grow up to be a very compelling actor, and that's why I ended up feeling a little blah every time the movie left the orbits of Hawke or Arquette.

...but Boyhood is shite.

Boyhood is overrated garbage

Boyhood was a terrible movie

Boyhood is insufferable.

I can see arguing that it shouldn't win Best Picture. I can see arguing that it shouldn't have been nominated. That makes sense. I'm inclined to agree with the latter, and definitely agree with the former. But I can't see how it's a "bad movie." Hawke and Arquette's performances are enough to elevate it beyond "bad," and that's not getting into stuff like cinematography and editing, which are both pretty damned good through most of the film's runtime.

Maybe it's not a great movie. Or maybe not even all that good a movie. But I don't see how it's a terrible overrated piece of insufferable garbage.
 

Thanks, I almost forgot! Not quite as fun as yesterday's:

On Whiplash:

Whiplash is offensive — it’s a film about abuse and I don’t find that entertaining at all. My kid would have told me if he had an abusive teacher. I would have sat in on the class, talked to other kids in the class and then said, “This asshole has to go.”

On Selma:

I didn’t think Selma was a particularly good film, apart from the main actor [David Oyelowo], and I think the outcry about the Academy being racists for not nominating it for more awards is offensive — we have a two-term president who is a black woman [Cheryl Boone Isaacs] and we give out awards to black people when they deserve them, just like any other group.

On weird criteria for choosing Best Actor:

I can’t vote for [Birdman’s Michael] Keaton, [The Imitation Game’s Benedict] Cumberbatch or [American Sniper’s Bradley] Cooper because I didn’t really like their movies.
 
Thanks, I almost forgot! Not quite as fun as yesterday's:

On Whiplash:



On Selma:



On weird criteria for choosing Best Actor:

Oh, the movies have to be entertaining type of criticism. Myopic.

And the actor bit in indeed weird. Like there are movies that are basically actor vehicles.

Also, lol at that Selma defense.
 
Yeah, that 2nd voter is not as offensive as the first one, but still, I can't take serious someone who loves Theory of Everything that much. That movie is so fucking bad (opinions opinions, I know)

What do you even have to do to be a member. Can you just like sign up?

You have to be invited by the Academy. Normally, you get an invitation if you get a nomination but someone CAN lobby for you to get in even if you haven't been on a nominated film.
 

JABEE

Member
Boyhood isn't shit. It just really drags in the second half. I thought the first 90 minutes of the film was pretty good. Once the kid gets older and needs to carry more weight, the film deteriorates into watching a teenager wander around doing pointless teenager things.

The Wonder Years is far better than Boyhood. I actually cared what Kevin Arnold was doing. I felt that the things he did were actually important. I felt his perspective and the weight of the decisions he made. Everything just felt meaningless in Boyhood. There were no stakes. I didn't care if the protagonist got into college or not.

For 90 minutes, Boyhood was a competent coming of age story with the backdrop of times that line up with my childhood. Boyhood is a run-of-the-mill coming of age story compared to the competition at the cinema and in television. The way it was filmed is the only way it differentiates itself.

It's an average leaning towards below average story with some great actors and some terrible actors told over 12 years. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke were great though.
 
There were no stakes.

This is so true. I have a feeling like he wanted Boyhood to be a stream-of-consciousness style movie (a la Slacker/Waking Life) but ground it in this family, moving from moment to moment, instead of person to person. In the end it's just a collection of scenes, some of which are decent (mostly the ones with Arquette) and others that are lame (like the kid at college).

I also don't think there was anything particularly artful about the cinematography and editing. It was functional and didn't draw too much attention to itself (which is good in its own right), but I don't see why it (occasionally) gets praised.
 

jackal27

Banned
Yo Boyhood was a eyeroll FEST though. I could not believe how little even a pretentious little douche like myself could stand it.

Boyhood felt so disjointed and none of the story or life elements flowed into the others. The things we experience and learn CHANGE us yo. Nothing even happens in a movie that spans 12 literal years. I couldn't believe it.

Selma though? Get out dude.
 

Blader

Member
This is so true. I have a feeling like he wanted Boyhood to be a stream-of-consciousness style movie (a la Slacker/Waking Life) but ground it in this family, moving from moment to moment, instead of person to person.

Well that IS what the movie was...

I also don't think there was anything particularly artful about the cinematography and editing. It was functional and didn't draw too much attention to itself (which is good in its own right), but I don't see why it (occasionally) gets praised.

Because cutting down 12 years of material into a single cohesive narrative that jumps ahead across years seamlessly but without losing the viewers in the process, is pretty damn impressive. There's a lot of gaps in Mason and his parents' lives that are never filled with exposition, so the editing has to quickly inform you where and when everyone is without being distracting about it.

This stupid RLM meme aside, making the movie how they did and making it work as well as they did over 12 years is not some trivial thing (nor is it tantamount to making a fucking sitcom either). Trying to slight that for whatever reason just seems disingenuous to me.
 

spekkeh

Banned
I think Boyhood gets shit on a bit too much, it was a perfectly fine movie, it meandered too much and didn't really seem to have a point, but I liked watching it. Outside of the 12 years a slave to the director thing though, an oscar would be as deserved as the actual 12 years a slave movie. I kind of hope GBH wins something, even though I thought moonrise kingdom was a better movie. Keaton should get best actor, don't really care about the rest. I haven't seen inherent vice, but I got soured so much on the master that I hope it doesn't win anything.
 

JABEE

Member
Well that IS what the movie was...



Because cutting down 12 years of material into a single cohesive narrative that jumps ahead across years seamlessly but without losing the viewers in the process, is pretty damn impressive. There's a lot of gaps in Mason and his parents' lives that are never filled with exposition, so the editing has to quickly inform you where and when everyone is without being distracting about it.

This stupid RLM meme aside, making the movie how they did and making it work as well as they did over 12 years is not some trivial thing (nor is it tantamount to making a fucking sitcom either). Trying to slight that for whatever reason just seems disingenuous to me.

It's impressive, but I feel like it's a problem of their own creation. It's cinematography should be judged on what the final product looks like. Nothing against the editing, but I understand why someone would think the film looked bland/generic.
 
Oh, the movies have to be entertaining type of criticism. Myopic.

And the actor bit in indeed weird. Like there are movies that are basically actor vehicles.

Also, lol at that Selma defense.

Yeah, it's a bit absurd, but knowing the "movies must be entertaining" mindset of his/hers explains the lavish praise for The Theory of Everything (which I don't think was bad or anything, mind you).
 
But I'm going to hold my nose and vote for it anyway because when you vote for best picture, what you should try to do is vote for the movie that, years from now, people will still watch and talk about.

Not necessary a universal opinion, but I don't see anything wrong with this?
 

Blader

Member
It's impressive, but I feel like it's a problem of their own creation. It's cinematography should be judged on what the final product looks like. Nothing against the editing, but I understand why someone would think the film looked bland/generic.

I don't think I would characterize ambition as a self-created problem. I mean, I guess it technically is, but I find the sentiment kinda discouraging.

And I don't really disagree about the cinematography -- it looks nice but it's not a standout visual work -- but I was mainly talking about the editing anyway.

Not necessary a universal opinion, but I don't see anything wrong with this?

Nothing wrong with the opinion, it's that she applied that criteria to The Imitation Game that raises eyebrows.
 

rakhir

Member

This are the worst opinions in the world:

➻ BEST SOUND EDITING

I loved Interstellar — I like science fiction and that’s a movie with balls. It doesn’t fully work, but what a nice piece of work. And how do you create a sound where there is no sound in a vacuum? I thought it was very creative. MY VOTE: Interstellar

➻ BEST SOUND MIXING

I don’t automatically vote for the same film for sound editing and sound mixing — I know the difference between the two, and as a filmmaker I have so much respect for sound people — but in this case I think the same film deserves both awards. MY VOTE: Interstellar

Any sound related thing in Interstallar was fucking terrible.
 

Toothless

Member
Day 3. This one isn't as good, but it still has a few gems.

On Makeup:

I went with Guardians of the Galaxy just because I loved the film, I love Nicole [Perelman, its co-writer] and I thought the hair and makeup on Zoe Saldana and the tree was great. MY VOTE: Guardians of the Galaxy

On The LEGO Movie:

I thought The Lego Movie [in which "Everything Is Awesome" is featured] was horrible. It was whack and I just did not like it at all — I mean, I couldn't even get through the film.

On Interstellar:

I just thought [it] was an abomination — like, I just didn't get it on any level and I thought it was so boring and awful and fucking indulgent and stupid — and although the design was interesting, I just can't vote for it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom