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The 87th Academy Awards |OT| The One That Matters

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yeah i'm a big fan of michael keaton (and the rest of the cast is pretty good too) but birdman is a film i wanted to love but didn't really like much.

would have taken whiplash, boyhood or grand budapest over it. but whatever, i hope this gives keaton some more roles. he is a very capable dramatic actor and has damn good comedic chops too.
 

C4Lukins

Junior Member
So someone explain Lego not getting nominated for best animation. Did it have to much live action to be considered? Did it put itself in the best picture pool which disqualified it from animation? There has to be a story there.
 

wedward

Member
I'm not talking about the plot. I'm talking about the movies message, which is a nonsensical mess lost between all the scenes where some characters is screaming really loudly about how life is meaningless and or throwing things.

The message isn't a nonsensical mess.

It's just not new or interesting.

As far as comedies go, Nightcrawler was so thoroughly unambitious and tame. It set its sights low and hit the mark, I guess. Not to mention, the film itself was boring—nothing changed, despite the film clearly thinking otherwise.

Gone Girl would've been the rightful comedy nominee, replacing Sniper, Imitation Game (which is truly godawful), Theory of Everything, Foxcatcher.

Nightcrawler had a nice idea but they had no clue how to develop that idea.
 

ryan299

Member
Has anybody made the joke that Birdman should of won best adapted screenplay instead of original? It is based on Keaton's career after all. I truly believe that movie only works bc of Keaton.
 

Game-Biz

Member
Character Study? The characters are 1 dimensional. None of them are believable, and every scene is a 30 second screaming match about how nothing has meaning at all.

It's the sort of confusing messagless meandering thing that high college kids will ramble on about for the next 6 months about being deep and meaningful without anyone actually being able to tell you what it was about.

It also served as a way for a bunch of hollywood actors who have starred in big budget movies to take a giant dump on bid budget movies.

I would have left the theater halfway through the stupid mans No Exit, except I wanted to suffer through it so that anyone who posited the opinion that the movie had anything redeeming about it couldn't hold over me that I hadn't finished the movie.

Which means I got to see the marvelous scene where he shoots his beak off. because SYMBOLISM. Do you get it? He shot his BEAK off!
Jesus. Can't really agree at all. I thought Birdman was great. Absolutely deserved to win.
 

JABEE

Member
What charachters?

The young alchoholic?
The old alchoholic?
The drug addict daughter?
The girlfriend?
The other girlfriend with 5 seconds of screen time who isn't preganant?
The ex-wife who shows up twice?
The cold firlm critic?
The lawyer buddy?

I'd love to know what nuance I missed in the characters?
The crazy, washed up actor experiencing surrealistic dreams and delusions of grandeur morphed together with schizophrenic macho adrenaline.

The way that Keaton's only path to acclaim is to experience real pain in front of an audience. (his naked run and the end) The fact that the only way for him to claw his way back to the top is to mentally and physically destroy his very being.

The shot of Keaton shooting himself on stage is haunting. People stand and applaud as he kills himself for their amusement. Critics cling to him and call out his genius. He must reproduce this feat in later shows and return to the stage where he faced his mortality and just escaped death.
 

Archer

Member
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inm8num2

Member
Poor Jake.

I can't see Boyhood having too much appeal for repeat viewings, and I say that as someone who liked it quite a bit.

I can see Birdman having some rewatch appeal. It's zippy, meta, and "cool". A very good, perhaps great, movie.

But Nightcrawler? That movie is just utterly fascinating and had the best performance of the year by far. It's dark, disturbing, and primed for repeat viewings. Maybe I'm a sick fuck.
 
So someone explain Lego not getting nominated for best animation. Did it have to much live action to be considered? Did it put itself in the best picture pool which disqualified it from animation? There has to be a story there.

Probably smacked too much of commercialism? On the face of it, a Lego movie seems like a creatively bankrupt endeavor.

We know half of those old fuckers can't be bothered to watch the screeners.
 

leadbelly

Banned
I'm not talking about the plot. I'm talking about the movies message, which is a nonsensical mess lost between all the scenes where some characters is screaming really loudly about how life is meaningless and or throwing things.

Why does the movie need a message?
 
What charachters?

The young alchoholic?
The old alchoholic?
The drug addict daughter?
The girlfriend?
The other girlfriend with 5 seconds of screen time who isn't preganant?
The ex-wife who shows up twice?
The cold firlm critic?
The lawyer buddy?

I'd love to know what nuance I missed in the characters?

Like I said I don't think a discussion will be worthwhile. You obviously despise the film and you are entitled to your opinion, but your original statement on the film leads me to believe that a reasonable discussion of the film's merits or flaws between us cannot be had. There is a fundamental difference between how we saw the same film.

You are entitled to your opinion. Which is why instead of my being combative about our differences of opinion I wish to end it by simply saying I disagree.
 

HeelPower

Member
I was going into this show fully expecting Boyhood to sweep and Birdman to be snubbed badly.

Birdman was an extraordinary experience.

I am so glad the oscars actually appreciated such an oddball,quirky and experimental film such as Birdman.

Imitation game's wins were unexpected and pleasant too.

One of the best oscars in years as far as the awards themselves.
 

inky

Member
So glad about Lubezki. The man is my idol.

From the Knight of Cups footage I've seen he might be a frontrunner again for next year too.
 
So someone explain Lego not getting nominated for best animation. Did it have to much live action to be considered? Did it put itself in the best picture pool which disqualified it from animation? There has to be a story there.
Rumor says because it was a huge commercial for LEGO .... wich is kinda true
 
Even though I enjoyed Gran Budapest more than Birdman, I didn't enjoy it as much as previous Wes Anderson films. And to be honest, it feels like he has been building over the formula for years and will surely make another film similar to Budapest, and possibly better.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
i think im just glad boyhood didnt win. surprised michael keaton didnt get the best actor...

i dont care what anyone says, interstellar should have won all the sound stuff.
 

JTripper

Member
Boyhood's "gimmick" existed completely outside the actual art of film-making. It was a run-of-the-mill coming of age story that fizzled out around 90 minutes into the film. It was shot consistently in the same boring style. It's story was "nothing matters," just like Birdman utilized those themes, except Birdman was actually interesting and daring.

People are free to disagree.

I do disagree on Boyhood, but I understand where you're coming from. My interpretation for why Boyhood's concept matters to the film is because it's cinema isn't in the individual shots, it's what the entire film was about. You're literally watching people grow older before your eyes through moving image, not through words like a book or through still pictures. I think the approach fit the story Linklater wanted to tell.

Same with Birdman (which I agree was great). It was a film about performance and theatricality, and the long-take style cinematography made the camera seem like a theater performer itself.
 
So glad about Lubezki. The man is my idol.

From the Knight of Cups he might be a frontrunner again for next year too.

lubezki has shot some of my favorite looking films: ali, tree of life, new world etc. so that was great that he won something.

but it's time roger deakins wins next. he's been snubbed far too often.
 

injurai

Banned
The movie about shooting brown people should have won.

Racisms' a hell of a drug.

The "good ol' days" = when white people won and ruled over everything. It's a common conservative talking point.

He's obviously trying to not to say that, so why say anything at all. Like we are supposed to read into it and agree on some sort of esoteric "non-racial" grounds.

Trump has said everything by saying nothing. Incredible.
 
The funny thing about Boyhood is that the protagonist and I have had incredibly similar lives, and at the same time I've never felt so disinterested in a main character and their story. It felt way too fast (ironic, I know) and tried to compact big moments and day-to-day events, that are all a part of long and varied developments, in a person's life. The end result just felt ephemeral.

It wasn't bad, it was just the theatric equivalent of reminiscing moments over my own life, and not ones I would necessarily deem most important or interesting. That's just me, though, and I'm certain it's a divisive film because it can well up emotions in all kinds of people, by virtue of it being a "coming-of-age" story.

EDIT: Oh, we're talking about something else now, sorry.
 

inky

Member
Chivo gonna win again next year for The Revenant.

I haven't seen any footage from that, so I didn't want to jump the gun. I'm sure it will be a fantastic looking movie just the same.

lubezki has shot some of my favorite looking films: ali, tree of life, new world etc. so that was great that he won something.

but it's time roger deakins wins next. he's been snubbed far too often.

He has. I'd be OK with that outcome obviously (I was surprised he didn't win for Skyfall, I thought it was a lock tbh) but I'm not sure what he's doing for 2015.
 
Lubezki may be the first name in Terrence Malick and Alfonso Cuaron phone books. That's like a dream deal to be in as a DP. This is a dude that is in a position to be the most nominated cinematographer ever if he keeps at it.
 

wedward

Member
I haven't seen any footage from that, so I didn't want to jump the gun. I'm sure it will be a fantastic looking movie just the same.



He has. I'd be OK with that outcome obviously (I was surprised he didn't win for Skyfall, I thought it was a lock tbh) but I'm not sure what he's doing for 2015.

I'd like to see Lubezki win for a Malick film. I am so in love with that style and after the Tree of Life snub I think they deserve it.

Doubt they will get it for Knight of Cups, but it would be nice.
 

Cerberus

Member
lubezki has shot some of my favorite looking films: ali, tree of life, new world etc. so that was great that he won something.

but it's time roger deakins wins next. he's been snubbed far too often.

I'm so hyped for Sicario. Deakins did great work with Denis Villenueve on Prisoners.
 

injurai

Banned
Lubezki may be the first name in Terrence Malick and Alfonso Cuaron phone books. That's like a dream deal to be in as a DP. This is a dude that is in a position to be the most nominated cinematographer ever if he keeps at it.

He's really incredible. Look forward to next year's Malick flick partly for him.
 
Lubezki may be the first name in Terrence Malick and Alfonso Cuaron phone books. That's like a dream deal to be in as a DP. This is a dude that is in a position to be the most nominated cinematographer ever if he keeps at it.

Remember when Christopher Doyle was a talent that produced great stuff, and then he pissed it all away? :(

Lubezki and Deakins produce wonderful images, but I miss the grit of Doyle.
 

jtb

Banned
Remember when Christopher Doyle was a talent that produced great stuff, and then he pissed it all away? :(

Lubezki and Deakins produce wonderful images, but I miss the grit of Doyle.

he pissed it away? I know he's a bit of a dick but isn't he still Wong Kar Wai's go-to guy?

also, Seamus McGarvey is a good DP too, though he's on that tier just below those three I think.
 
What made me love Birdman was the direction, performances, and the weirdness.

It wasn't because of some deep message in the film.

I think those expectations are inherent in the premise of the film. It's about Michael Keaton playing himself in a story that seems to be about himself. People are obviously gonna expect some sort of message or at least a meditation on that career/life.
 
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