Neither do I, and I've seen it. I blame Nanny!Originally Posted by Blasty
Neither do I, and I've seen it. I blame Nanny!
I haven't seen Wilson, but Nixon was from the same conspiracy-happy director as JFK (I love both films BTW) and depicted one of the most unlikeable presidents in the country's history.
So Lincoln is a bit of a different animal IMO.
T E A M R I V E T T E
I look forward to the day Tom Hooper wins his second Oscar for directing "Clinton".
I know which set he can reuse for the Oval Office Bill/Monica scenes:
From your mouth to God's wastebasket.
T E A M R I V E T T E
New Jersey?From your mouth to God's wastebasket.
Guy Lodge's BAFTA Predictions:
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/...e-bafta-awards
I'd love to see Hoffman win. I mean, they did give him a WTF nod for The Ides of March last year...
Having just seen Argo at long last I am completely baffled as to how it's winning Best Picture. Not a bad movie, but it will be the weakest winner since 2008 (at least) and really pales in comparison to its competitors like Django, ZDT, and even Lincoln.
I don't really understand why people are baffled at Argo sweeping. It's a perfect consensus film -- think about the average moviegoer. Argo is thrilling, has comedic moments, has the "based on real events" importance, is easy to understand, etc. ZDT has been marred in controversy, Lincoln skews a bit intellectual/'talky', Django is incredibly violent. These aren't personal complaints about the films, but I think when you consider the taste of Joe Moviegoer (which is basically what the Academy is), a well-made dramatic action film like Argo makes perfect sense over its competition.
i don't either, it's absurd how easy and obvious this choice is.
My uncle who often yells at me for my film recommendations and has a taste similar to AMPAS called me a week ago and said Argo was the best film he's seen in 10 years. He thought Lincoln was 'well-made, but boring', SLP was 'funny, entertaining and somewhat poignant but slight' and Django was 'an offensive mess'. This pretty much was when I realized the writing was on the wall.
Except most of my non film enthusiast friends were huge fans of Lincoln too. Like one of my good friends from college (I was even the best man at his wedding!) posted immediately after he saw it how much he loved the damn thing. And he's just an average 8th grade math teacher in Texas. When I told him a couple of months ago that it was not gonna win BP (this was actually well before the Argo surge....back when Les Miserables was all the rage prediction wise) he got all irritated at the thought.
The fact that it is the kind of film that the Academy seems to go for AND was embraced by the Joe public (way more than I ever expected BO wise) does make it seem weird that it's not gonna win.
Yeah, the day nominations were announced I thought between Affleck's snub and Lincoln's BO, there was no way it was losing unless Harvey works the greatest magic of his career. This is bizzare, but also understandable. Argo goes down like Applebee's, Lincoln for it appearing to be pure bait on the outside, is the most observant and patient film Spielberg's ever made. I remember I saw an advanced screening of it a few days before release and thought it wasn't going to do THAT well at the BO, boy was I wrong.
Argo is just such...nothing in comparison, though? In cases like The King's Speech or Slumdog, where decidedly milquetoast movies won based on that very quality I think they still benefited from being better at something (namely, emotion or reaction) than their fellow nominees. The only reaction that Argo ever really invoked in me was some slight tension that I knew would be resolved without real consequences. It seems like all of the leading (and middling) contenders this year create more emotion or reaction than Argo. Lincoln is much more emotional (at least I thought so) and funnier to boot. ZDT and Django provide better thrills. SLP, Pi, and Amour evoke more emotional responses. Argo seems to be winning based on its lack of anything, which is new to me.
Dame Leo says,
I am so happy with what Roger Ebert wrote in his Oscar predictions about Les Mis. On why he didn't review it "Today I don't have the heart. The Oscars haven't even been held yet, and "Les Mis" is already a picture that is Over With."
So true Rog, so true.
This is why Julianne Moore has never won an Oscar
Fair, it just seems like your personal judgments of the film are sort of overwhelming your ability to look at things objectively. Most people find the film funny (for ex, my theatre was cracking up at many of Arkin's and Goodman's lines). People also found it emotional (it's a rather emotional story, no? Several Americans taken hostage in a near-death situation). Although we knew the outcome of the event, which I agree takes some tension out of it, I think the film created tension and thrills (as much as possible) in a fine, albeit formulaic, way to keep the viewer glued to the screen and eager to see how exactly the events will unfold.
Films like Lincoln, Django, ZDT are probably going to be more highly regarded, but it's not surprising that a QT film isn't winning Best Picture, or such a controversial film like ZDT. Lincoln will probably come close-ish to winning, and definitely lots of people adore Abe Lincoln and like the film a lot (see: box office), but ultimately I think many will find it too intellectual/sophisticated, detached, and even boring. Argo is something that the average moviegoer seems to think is either decent-to-great (it's fast-moving, easy to follow, filled with tense moments, etc), while there are definitely people who are not into the heavily political/dialogue-driven aspect of Lincoln.
Last edited by with_one_voice; 02-10-2013 at 12:52 AM.
Yeah, Argo is going to win and Ben Affleck's snub will be studied for years to come. I think this year proves that passion counts when it comes to nominations but when it comes down to choosing a winner it is better to be liked by all.
I think the Best Picture and Best Director race are very up in the air. I guess I'm the only one who feels that way!
In a million years, when kids go to school, they gonna know;
once there was a Hushpuppy, and she was nominated for an Oscar.
Nobody thinks Director is not up in the air.
I thought that the Lincoln criticism (boring, talky...) was overstated but yesterday I spoke with some friends that are not very into films and they told me that they weren't very entertained by it, that the rythm was kind of slow and they didn't like it at all. So after that I realized why Lincoln hadn't won anything at all this season. I was completely blinded by my Lincoln love.
Argo will win but I think the spoiler will be Life of Pi, not Lincoln.
FYC
Upstream Color - Best Picture
Shane Carruth - Upstream Color - Best Director
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