He's talking about critics awards. THL/Bigelow only just swept LAFCA/NSFC/NYFCC.Originally Posted by russen18
He's talking about critics awards. THL/Bigelow only just swept LAFCA/NSFC/NYFCC.
I think voters would be less reluctant to award Hooper again, so soon, because his two films (King's Speech + Les Mis) are much more different than Bigelow's (Hurt Locker + Zero Dark Thirty) are. Even if ZDT is amazing, the Middle East-war-action thing will probably be perceived as well within her wheelhouse.
Les Mis transcends space, time, and Oscar statistics.
New York Magazine's early take on the film.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/zero-...d-to-know.htmlIts best chance will come in the Best Actress category, where Chastain is a surefire nominee (though at this point, Silver Linings Playbook star Jennifer Lawrence remains the front-runner).
I can't wait to see Chastain & Lawrence embrace lovingly on the red carpet
so much realness omg
It's kind of odd that the way you can truly tell someone is a serious contender for an Oscar is not by the raves or word of mouth. It is when fans of another performance (or just actor in general) come to a thread for the sole reason of downplaying another actor's chances. My favorite female performances of the year so far are Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea) and Hani Furstenberg (The Loneliest Planet). While there is not a thread for The Loneliest Planet, there is one for The Deep Blue Sea. Yet one of the things telling me Weisz has little if any chance of being noticed at awards time is there have not been any posts on The Deep Blue Sea thread on how Jennifer Lawrence will win, how Weisz's raves came from people with an agenda, how if Weisz gets nominated it will be solely be due to the film was nominated, etc.
Personally I wanted to hear what people had heard about the screenplay and the direction. Also love Chris Pratt, Jason Clarke (from his days on Brotherhood), and Mark Strong so was interested if they had come up in reviews. Instead it is this?
Last edited by ldw; 11-26-2012 at 09:38 PM.
As far as best actress goes, Chastain brings the realness and the grace, but you know JLaw will fight for it hard.
I know I've got a big ego, I really don't know why it's such a big deal, though.
I think Levy's reaction will be somewhat of a minority one, in thinking this is better than THL. It seems more conventionally plotted, which wouldn't help it with the "edgier" critics (who could also have political objections, I’m thinking Slant), but at the same time other more mainstream critics have mentioned pacing problems despite the apparently heart-stopping last act. I doubt this will end up higher than THL in Metacritic (then again, what wouldn’t with THL’s 94), and I’m predicting more of an 88. Which is still higher than any other English-language film so far this year, but will still be a step down from THL, which wouldn’t help it being a sweeper like THL was.
But of course maybe I’m wrong and it starts sweeping left and right?
This is my take as well. "The Hurt Locker" really came out of left field and the reviews were surprised and ecstatic. The notices I've read for ZDT don't seem to have that same enthusiasm, so I doubt it will end up with a 94 (and eighteen 100's) on MC. But we will see.
The only negatives Ive read about ZD30, and they're not really negatives at all are:
-Someone said they spoke to a HPFA member(s) who liked Chastain more than the movie,
-Kris Tapley seems to admire the film a lot, but finds it to be clinical and inherently dull in spots.
Well, if Kris Tapley says something marginally critical about a movie, it's all over, people.
Well, Todd McCarthy also basically said it's better than THL, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see more critics take that stand. That said, I also doubt that any of the critics groups are going to be keen on awarding a Bigelow movie so soon again, especially after her last film basically swept the awards.
"I shall immediately after I'm done watching Homeland." - DirkDiggler on his voting priorities
He isn't the only one to mention that this feels too procedural and feels more like a journalist's article than like a movie. Nobody has implied it's over just because of that, though.
The review in Variety isn't a rave:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117948801/Like Bigelow herself, Maya realizes that actions -- or action movies, in the director's case -- are the surest way to combat a tradition in which society doesn't believe women to be capable of getting the job done, and "Zero Dark Thirty" follows the character through every significant step along her 10-year journey to hold bin Laden accountable for 9/11. The film opens with audio of a terrified victim of the World Trade Center attack playing over a black screen and uses the emotional power that clip dredges up to fuel everything that follows.
The result is neither particularly entertaining nor especially artful, as the filmmakers take a lean, "All the President's Men"-style approach to dramatizing an investigation that took nearly a decade to bear fruit. But Boal has clearly constructed this as a more journalistic alternative to a generic gung-ho approach. The script's blood runs thick with observational detail and military jargon, skipping forward years at a time between scenes to focus on one of two types of incident.
The reviews in Time Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter are better. But I still have a sense that the final number on Metacritic is not going to match the 94 for The Hurt Locker. But I could be wrong.
Those two paragraphs from Variety, rave or not, are everything I want from this film. It sounds fantastic.
I have a feeling this will be our Original Screenplay winner.
Oh, I still think ZDT will get excellent reviews, and I can't wait to see it. However, the stars really have to be aligned for a film to sweep all of the major critics awards like THL did; I'd be surprised if that happened with ZDT given the competition. But, again, we will see.
So this sounds like the military version of Zodiac, where they actually get the killer.
I guess it's a good thing this movie isn't being released in March.
THL had so much more going for it; the ability to award a female director for the first time, the ability to make a social statement about the war in Iraq and, probably even more so, the counter to the massiveness of Avatar.
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