The OFFICIAL 2012 Oscar nominations thread...- Page 6

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 6:56pm

You're welcome, best! I haven't seen any of the animated features, but there isn't a single one in the mix this year that I'm not interested in. To whatever extent I have a "list," though, none but "Rango" is near the top. I'll have to rewatch the trailer for "Chico & Rita," and perhaps that will be a motivator. It is definitely an unusual crop this year, and it's very refreshing.

I saw "Tree of Life" four times in three weeks during its initial release. It obsessed me a little, I admit. And when I see it a fifth time tomorrow, it will top my previous "most viewings in a cinema" film, which was "Titanic" back in high school. And I absolutely cannot wait. I'm thrilled as sh!t to see it on a movie screen again, so stunning and new I've found it with each viewing. Of tomorrow's films, I've seen that and "Moneyball," which I thought was great. (Perhaps it's the Sorkin connection, but I left the theater thinking it was this year's "The Social Network," especially in its sound and cinematography.) "War Horse" and "The Descendants" will be new for me, as will three of next week's movies.

Because of this marathon, every year when Oscar season rolls around, I try to avoid seeing movies I suspect will be nominated for Best Picture because it's fun to see as many new ones as possible during the marathon. (When I had to sit through "Avatar" a second time two years ago, I wanted to scream.) But "The Artist" is the one I'm most looking forward to, partially because everyone else has seen it and I have to leave the room when discussions of it arise... and also because the trailer has had me captivated for months and months and months, and everyone whose opinion I respect has, so far, loved it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 7:16pm

It's good that you've already seen The Tree of Life (and so many times!). I look forward to seeing again. I'll probably buy it on Blu-ray when the price drops a bit. I'm glad to hear that "repeat visits" yield new discoveries. I saw it once, and can't shake it (in a good way).

War Horse, The Decedents and Extremely Loud ... are the 3 Best Pic nominees out of 9 that I still haven't seen. Can't seem to get motivated. I"ll probably rent them when they're available at Redbox.

Enjoy your marathon! Sounds really great.

When I lived in L.A., I had a very dear (old) friend who was a voting member of the Academy (in the Actors Branch). When I first moved out there in '87, we started going to all the screenings. This was before VHS screeners, let alone DVD screeners. So we would go to the Academy (on Wilshire) or other venues around town to see all the films before she voted. When they started sending screeners, we saw some at home (hers or mine) and some in the theatre. It was a fun and "heady" time, especially when the ballots arrived. She would always invite me over to help fill it out with her. We would discuss the films and review what we'd seen, and go into big discussions, especially if she was still vacillating on her choices, until she decided which one she wanted. More often than not, though, she knew exactly what she wanted.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 8:37am

That's a nice story, best, and I'm pleased that your dear (old) friend took her responsibilities as an voter to heart. Not knowing much about the inside of the industry, it's discouraging to hear it so often said that many voting members don't watch the screeners they are sent, and here was your friend trekking out with you to catch them before the convenience of home entertainment. (From the way you tell your story, in my head, the two of you are going about this very determinedly!) And that must have been a lot of fun for you, too!

First marathon has come and gone. I liked "Moneyball" just as much and maybe a little more on a second viewing and still believe it deserves all its praise. "Tree of Life" was as rich an experience the fifth time as it was the first, and obviously I feel its (limited) Academy attention is justified.

"War Horse"... was fine, I suppose. I don't like schmaltz. I don't like the seeing so baldly the machinations of the strings tugging at my heart. The play failed to engage me for the same reason, and I was bored for long stretches of the movie. The first 30 or 40 minutes are quite strong, but once Joey and Albert are separated and the story meandered through the French countryside, my attention meandered with it. Spielberg is unabashedly making an old-school genre pic (how anyone who's seen "Gone With the Wind" missed the ending's visual quote is beyond me), and on that level, it has one or two thrilling sequences, especially Joey's attempted escape and the raid of the German encampment. (Joey's untangling was also nicely handled). But a horse is a horse, and -- though I make this comparison with apology -- the most engaging things about the stage version, for me, were the specific and complicated personalities of Joey and Topthorn, both of which in the film are conveyed primarily by their coat colors and what other characters say about them. In the play, Joey was clearly an extraordinary creature. In the movie, what he goes through is extraordinary, but as a dramatic character, he's just not all that amazing, even though everyone else keeps insisting that he is. So there's frequently a void at the center of the movie. Emily Watson was a beacon, and Jeremy Irvine does some really great work. Also, it's about 20 minutes too long.

"The Descendants." Whew. Aside from "The Artist," "The Descendants" was the unseen nominee I was most looking forward to. And, boy, did it leave me frustrated. Was this movie manufactured on some Hollywood Dramedy Assembly Line? Jordan and I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago wherein I expressed concern that Alexander Payne may be becoming Wes Anderson-like in his stylistic repetition (though I hasten to add I've liked everything he's done so far), and Jordan assured me that the quirk factor of "The Descendants" was comparatively low. He was absolutely correct... and I wish he weren't. A little more quirk, banal though it be, might have at least given some personality to the movie, which starts flat and somehow flattens continuously over 2 long, long hours. There's a midpoint revelation I didn't see coming, but which still completely failed to surprise or even affect me because its very presence felt like just another appropriate piece in a by-the-numbers schematic. Alexander Payne clearly knows how to direct a movie, but all I saw here was point-and-click. And what on God's green earth is all this talk about George Clooney's performance? To the extent that Clooney's got a "thing" that he does when he's not doing something exceptional... he's doing it here. The supporting performances are hardly worth examining because the poor actors are trapped in caricatures, the dialogue for which sounds like it was written (and rewritten and rewritten and rewritten) by committee and then filtered through six focus groups. Violent senior citizen! That's funny! Foul-mouthed teenagers! Funnier! The character of Alex, the oldest daughter, ignites a few dramatic sparks in her relationship with Clooney, but then she all but disappears. What's most frustrating is that the end result isn't really... *bad." It's just completely uninteresting. Two other movies I felt exactly the same way about are "Up in the Air" and "Juno." There's nothing *wrong* with these movies. But -- to crib a line from Neil Simon -- there's not the least bit of adventure in them.

Updated On: 2/20/12 at 08:37 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 12:42pm

I loved those "olden days" before screeners. The only way to see the films was in a theatre, and many people took advantage of the Academy screenings on Wilshire, because it was convenient and (generally) private. No studio people snooping around, asking you what you were seeing or schmoozing you up. There was also a very nice social aspect to the proceedings.

It felt like a small community, because you actually got to see and visit with voting members. I remember sitting next to Dorothy Jeakins at one screening and Terry Moore at another. I would see random people, like the kid from Breaking Away (Dennis Christopher) all grown up and Norman Fell. The most vivid and special memory I have was early on for "The Last Emperor." As we came out of the Wilshire building, we ran into Robert Wise, who was going in for the next screening of a different movie. He stopped us and said hello to my friend (they were old friends), and then asked us what we'd seen. We talked about the movie for about five minutes and discussed various aspects. It seemed perfectly "normal" and casual.

As we continued down the street to our car, it hit me. That was Robert Friggin' Wise, and I was just "talking movies" with him!

Another fun annual screening was for the short films, and the voters actually voted immediately following. The ballots were on site. I think that rule is still in place, but Academy members weren't allowed to vote for short films unless they had seen them ALL, so these "marathon" screenings were the way to do it. And they were usually packed.

I miss those Academy screenings for another reason---everyone was respectful. Nobody got up during the film. Nobody ate (food wasn't allowed). Nobody talked. Everybody stayed through ALL the credits. That was actually a rule, since these people were voting on various aspects of the film, you didn't get up and leave as soon as the credit roll started. You waited until the lights came up after it was all finished. People would react to various things. It was fun to see how several hundred Academy members would feel about certain films. I remember them applauding enthusiastically after "Under the Sea" and three songs from Beauty and the Beast. That was RARE for anything like that. I did hear applause at the end of certain films. If they liked something, they weren't afraid to show it.

But it was respectful all around--of the film and the people who were there with you watching it.

As for your marathon, congratulations on getting through it! I'm sure I'll see The Descendants and War Horse eventually, probably as rentals. A sign of the times.

Updated On: 2/20/12 at 12:42 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 1:09pm

Spielberg is unabashedly making an old-school genre pic (how anyone who's seen "Gone With the Wind" missed the ending's visual quote is beyond me)

That was actually one of the things I loved most about the film. Spielberg could have gone all gory and bloody and raw as with his WWII films, but with this particular story, he showcased his love for 30s/40s epic dramas in a way I found quite beautiful and refreshing. This was definitely a year for film nostalgia. I do think it's rather interesting that Spielberg receives gripes over a visual quote while The Artist is FILLED with them and receives praise. I find The Artist to be the better film, but I did love War Horse for what it was and personally, I found it to be worthy of becoming a classic.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 1:13pm

Mister Matt---I'll play devil's advocate, because I haven't seen War Horse. But the big difference I hear isn't in the referencing of older classic styles, but in the emotions. They ring true in The Artist, and some people seem to think they're forced and manipulated in War Horse.

I agree it's strange that if the story "works," the nod to older classics is praised, but if it doesn't work (for some), the nod is called out as a fault or a "cheat."

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 1:37pm

Matt, I don't know if you were addressing me particularly or something specific in another thread, but I referenced the GwtW nod as the most obvious proof of Spielberg's mode in "War Horse." I certainly had no gripes about it. It was a very respectful (and gorgerous) nod and didn't strike me as a "steal" or a cheat, even though I did find the movie's strokes in general too broad and crying out to be cried for.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 2:14pm

growl - I wasn't pointing at you at all. It's actually something that has come up in other threads as well as in discussions on other blogs and boards. To me, the entire film was an homage to the early color epic dramas and I thought it was the perfect approach to this particular story for a film transfer. I think the most ridiculous comment I've seen was from a critic who asked why the story had to be about a horse when there were so many human stories to WWI. Makes me wonder how he ever got hired or kept his job.

best - The story itself is highly melodramatic and I don't think the film manipulated emotions any more than the book or the play did. It already existed and I'm not sure what anyone expected from a drama by Spielberg even if they weren't familiar with the material. I don't think the emotions are any more forced than they are for any other films of its genre. I thought it was FAR less manipulative than Extremely Loud which may have worked well as a novel when it was originally published a few years after 9/11 and Asperger's was the hot buzz-word in pop psychology, but to me, seemed gimmicky at almost every level today. Perhaps they should have waited 100 years before adapting it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 2:18pm

I haven't seen any of the animated features, but there isn't a single one in the mix this year that I'm not interested in. To whatever extent I have a "list," though, none but "Rango" is near the top.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the nominees. I put Rango tied with Puss in Boots at the bottom of the list. I was completely bored with both.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 2:39pm

Really, Matt? Even more so than "Kung Fu Panda 2"?!

I'm only being a little snarky. I haven't seen "Kung Fu Panda 2," but the first one did zilch for me, and I don't even hate Jack Black. It was just uninspired and not particularly funny... methough.

I did go and rewatch all of the trailers for this category over the weekend, though, and the list has been re-ordered. "Rango" is now third below "Chico and Rita" and "A Cat in Paris." both of which are streaming in Netflix right now!

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 2:42pm

I'm really looking forward to Chico & Rita.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 3:02pm

I really liked Kung Fu Panda (mostly because it was vastly different than I expected) and I LOVED Kung Fu Panda 2. Good story and beautiful animation.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 2/20/12 at 6:25pm

Chico & Rita are really looking forward to "Best 12 Bars."