[PLEASUREMAN]

Well the Academy has once again released its nominations for which films, actors, actresses, and other talent will become the most overrated for the next couple of months before everyone forgets who won what. No one in his right mind gives a shit how the Academy votes, as it's traditionally the weakest entries that end up taking home a statue. Remember American Beauty? Remember Crash? Remember Forrest Gump? Alas, time is usually not kind to the Academy's favorites. But it's an excuse to talk about the last year's movies and make fun of the ones Hollywood loved so much.

This year the Academy has switched to ten Best Picture nominations from the traditional five, so the nominations in this category earn an asterix. They're mostly predictable:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Precious
Up
Up in the Air

Everyone says it is between The Hurt Locker (directed by Cameron's ex-wife) and Avatar[d]. Avatar has a shot because it is endless West-bashing with special effects and tales of glorious natives taking the fight to whitey. I guess it depends how insufferable the Academy thinks Cameron is now. Someone on Nikki Finke's blog said the new voting system might favor a less polarizing pic like Hurt Locker. Of the above movies I saw District 9, which was good but no BP, Up, which is just another fucking shitty computer cartoon for arrested adolescents, and Up in the Air, which I warmed to but critical opinion turned on it very quickly so it would appear to have no hope.

Nothing very interesting then. I liked Moon but like District 9 it isn't BP caliber. Personally I would vote for The Informant! which was the first truly great comedy I've seen in several years. 2009 had little else to offer at the cineplex. Scanning the list, it's mostly shit--at least Star Trek didn't get a nomination. What a pointless effort. Also happy that Julie & Julia didn't make it, I really hated it and Streep's impersonation of Child was completely insulting. Paranormal Activity was a semi-clever YouTube video. I've heard good things about Pandorum but, uh, it stars Dennis Quaid. Maybe on video.

We can skip directing, which is just the five BP nominations that were for real. It's always a sad day when people like Cameron and Tarantino make this list. Cameron's direction has never impressed me, and obviously Tarantino is a hack who peaked with his first movie. Just smokes weed and takes notes while watching drive-in movies now.

For Best Actor (note to the ladies: these are separate categories otherwise you'd never win), the list is:

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single (Gay) Man
Morgan Freeman in Who cares I'm just sick of him
Jeremy Renner (who?) in The Hurt Locker

Okay by all rights Damon should have gotten the nod for a pitch perfect comedic performance in The Informant!, but Hollywood hates comedies, they're just not worthy compared to cinema about the plight of closeted fags and noble negroes. Whatever Clooney does cannot be called acting--at best he just mugs through his roles with that smug expression. It actually works in Up in the Air, because the movie is about him getting cut down to size in a big way. But it's still not real acting. I like Jeff Bridges but whatever Crazy Heart was about it sounded missable so I missed it.

Sam Rockwell was robbed, he completely carried Moon, being practically the only person you see in it from start to finish. Fucking shameful that the likes of Colin Firth and Jeremy Renner are stealing his spotlight.

Best Actress...well screw it, I already mentioned I hated Streep's performance as Julia Child. Just completely undignified, which is the polar opposite of Child's persona. Also it's a very weak chick flick. Blah blah blah, how did Sandra Bullock end up on this list? But with Best Actress you never can tell, the field of truly good actresses is not deep.

Supporting Actor...nope, don't care about this category. Stanley Tucci started turning up everywhere after The Devil Wears Prada, but he doesn't have the chops to merit this kind of character actor overkill. Everyone knows that Christoph Waltz takes it for playing a humorous Nazi. Supporting Actress is barely worth mentioning, but I do like Vera Farmiga (clock is ticking on her looks) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (despite that weird doll face).

No one gives a shit about any of the other categories. But scanning the list, that reminds me that I have heard good things about Gilliam's Imaginarium, aka the movie that Heath Ledger died before wrapping. Tough titties, Terry. Can you imagine being well into it and your lead keels over from a prescription overdose?

[oni]

When everyone was talking about Crash a while back I thought they were referring to the Cronenberg stinker.

[HopeAndChange44]

I assume you all know which film I'm rooting for.

[PLEASUREMAN]

HopeAndChange44, 04 February 2010 - 01:56 PM:

I assume you all know which film I'm rooting for.

I didn't see that film but have a feeling I would like it more than most liberal depictions of downtrodden (yet soulful) Negroes for illustrating how fucked up poor black communities are.

[HopeAndChange44]

Large and in charge.

Until you accept this dynamic, your bigoted views will continue to be dismissed by those of us who are truly enlightened.

EDIT: PleasureFAG!!! Any dissent is evidence of your own inadequacy!

This post has been edited by HopeAndChange44: 04 February 2010 - 05:31 PM

[PRCalDude]

All of those movies are crap.

"The Hurt Locker" was garbage - a cartoonish depiction of military life. That's what Hollywood thinks of the military, though. No one from the - er- Hollywood demographic ever enlists. You occasionally see a Jewish officer though.

[Bumbling American]

PM, I'm curious about your take on "District 9." It was an interesting enough sci-fi movie but seemed to fall apart the further it went--almost as if the creators realized they were making a very unflattering movie about lowlives and had to scramble to redeem them somehow.

PR, same question about "Hurt Locker." To me, the movie came off as sympathetic to the military without fawning. How was it off base?

[PRCalDude]

Bumbling American, 05 February 2010 - 07:35 AM:

PM, I'm curious about your take on "District 9." It was an interesting enough sci-fi movie but seemed to fall apart the further it went--almost as if the creators realized they were making a very unflattering movie about lowlives and had to scramble to redeem them somehow.

PR, same question about "Hurt Locker." To me, the movie came off as sympathetic to the military without fawning. How was it off base?

It was sympathetic, but still cartoonish and cliched. Some head-case is allowed to keep being an EOD operator despite putting his team needlessly in harm's way constantly? He goes running off into Baghdad in the middle of the night to try to find some terrorist hang-out by himself (he should have pistol-whipped that Arab woman, btw)? Then there was the ultra-cliched side story about the doctor "not understanding, maaaan!" his patients because he hadn't been out of the green zone. The counter-sniping part was ridiculous too. They set up right where there buddy just got shot? The enemy sniper didn't even have to make any adjustments.

Then there was the way they all talked and acted after missions. It just wasn't credible.

[Bumbling American]

PR: Gotcha. Thanks for explaining. I'm still shaking off a longstanding case of neoconitis, where you're so grateful for even the weakest signs of agreement with your positions that you end up overpraising junk.

Are there any recent movies that you think are level-headed about the military?

[PRCalDude]

Blackhawk Down was good, as long as you notch out all of the parts where enlisted guys were giving their opinions on why they're fighting in Somalia - that wasn't in the book.

"Down Periscope" was an excellent submarine movie. So was "DAs Boot."

[PLEASUREMAN]

Bumbling American, 05 February 2010 - 09:35 AM:

PM, I'm curious about your take on "District 9." It was an interesting enough sci-fi movie but seemed to fall apart the further it went--almost as if the creators realized they were making a very unflattering movie about lowlives and had to scramble to redeem them somehow.

It benefited from low expectations and decent ensemble acting. It's a movie set in South Africa that doesn't sob over the plight of Negroes (apparently much of it has to do with the Zimbabwe refugee issue). Plus it did a lot with a small budget. I don't think it is Best Picture material, but it is short and inventive like Moon, and in a year like this you have to take what you can get.

[Samborai]

Rooting for Inglorious Basterds myself, but I didn't watch many recent movies this year. I expected a typical Tarantino flick, but set to the backdrop of Jew revenge fantasy, but actually found that the Nazi's were portrayed in a more human light while the Jews were pretty much murderous psychopaths. Still was a typical Tarantino flick, however I don't mind one of those every once in a while. Can't really laud him for what is likely nothing more than "shock-jock" directing, but I found it refreshing enough, and an okay critique of Hollywood portrayal of Nazis as all baby-killing monsters.

Pretty sure The Hurt Locker is going to win it though. Iraq War has Oscar bait written all over it.

If Avatar wins anything but an award related to technical visuals, I will lose the small amount of respect I have for these awards.

[Moondog]

ah oscars threads, "I have no respect for the Academy, being above all the Hollywood trite and instead preferring Indie short films but "

I'm glad A Serious Man was nominated, it has a farts chance in a hurricane of winning but I thought it was an incredible take on the story of Job and the uncertainty of the world we live in. what did ya'll think? and yes there were Jews in it. get over it you trailer park Hanglys

[PLEASUREMAN]

Moondog, 25 February 2010 - 10:06 PM:

ah oscars threads, "I have no respect for the Academy, being above all the Hollywood trite and instead preferring Indie short films but "

I'm glad A Serious Man was nominated, it has a farts chance in a hurricane of winning but I thought it was an incredible take on the story of Job and the uncertainty of the world we live in. what did ya'll think? and yes there were Jews in it. get over it you trailer park Hanglys

I intend to rent it soon, although for every No Country the Coens gleefully shit up the screen with a Burn After Reading (more like burn before screening AMIRITE).

[Stiva]

Quote

It was sympathetic, but still cartoonish and cliched. Some head-case is allowed to keep being an EOD operator despite putting his team needlessly in harm's way constantly? He goes running off into Baghdad in the middle of the night to try to find some terrorist hang-out by himself (he should have pistol-whipped that Arab woman, btw)? Then there was the ultra-cliched side story about the doctor "not understanding, maaaan!" his patients because he hadn't been out of the green zone. The counter-sniping part was ridiculous too. They set up right where there buddy just got shot? The enemy sniper didn't even have to make any adjustments.

Then there was the way they all talked and acted after missions. It just wasn't credible

It certainly wasn't perfect but I'd say it was a solid cut above the usual cineplex hack work. That the guy was allowed to lead EOD teams despite not cooperating with his teammates doesn't seem totally implausible; he has an outstanding record of bombs defused, and there's probably not many qualified people to fill those spots (I've read they are some of the hardest positions to fill, both for the danger involved and the specialized knowledge required). The late-night solo trip into Baghdad is meant to look quixotic and hare-brained, to illustrate how the character's obsessive tendencies keep him from thinking through the likely consequences of his actions. And in the counter-sniping scene, it doesn't seem too unreasonable they would shoot from where they were rather than picking up stakes and trying to sneak around to another spot; sure the enemy knows where they are, but they knew where he was too. The doctor subplot was weak, though. I'm with you on that.

I think in a perfect world we'd have better fare than this to win Oscars, but it would still be appreciated as a solid all-around action movie. The main character is complex enough that it's hard to definitively love him or hate him, the portrayal of the addictive qualities of danger is a refreshing counterpoint to mawkish Saving Private Ryan cliches about the noble patriotic selflessness of all soldiers, the action scenes are legitimately intense without a lot of showy effects or choreography, and the plot is pretty sophisticated for a war movie (just the fact that they didn't have the main character face off against some shadowy master bombmaker deserves praise, whereas the mediocre movie The Kingdom from a couple years ago did just that). It reminded me of the miniseries Generation Kill, about the Iraq invasion from the creators of The Wire, which I also warmly recommend.

Of course, I've never been in the military so my opinions of the accuracy should be taken with a grain of salt.

[PLEASUREMAN]

The Kingdom was truly dumb. I blame myself for even seeing it.

[Tinderbox]

PLEASUREMAN, 02 March 2010 - 02:41 AM:

The Kingdom was truly dumb. I blame myself for even seeing it.

"The Kingdom" was a decent action thriller, but the really notable thing about it was its excellent animated title sequence that coherently laid out the modern political history of Saudi Arabia and America's special relationship with the Kingdom. This is not something that most people know anything about and the movie is worth seeing for that reason alone if nothing else.