OSCARS - 2012

[jjfanec]

I only try to guess the major categories and since I figured the Artist would clean up and that Streep would win I did pretty well.

[RobertR]

I ended up seeing 8 of the Best Picture nominees, everyone except for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and a good representative of the others. Frankly, this year was like trying to crown the world's tallest midget. Even films that I liked a lot, I was certainly aware of how offputting they could be to others. To steal a quote, Tree of Life may be pretentious twaddle, but it's the kind of pretentious twaddle I like.

 

That said, A Separation is playing in Milwaukee currently. I strongly encourage people to see that one. Moreso than The Artist.

 

The ceremony itself is like a big cruise ship, it's never nimble even under ideal circumstances. This ceremony didn't wreck itself, but it certainly wasn't even Billy Crystal at his best, although I give him credit for being a presence throughout the ceremony. To me it seems that there are some easy fixes that can make the ceremony better. Such as, if you're going to show a montage or talking heads segment, make sure there's a point beyond "We like movies. Generally." Also, if you're going to have montages, you should have at least one montage that represents the film year being honored. That's the place for Twilight, not in a montage with classics.

 

Robert

[TooLiveBrew]

Adam McCalvy's latest blog post is about Axford's interest in filmmaking, including how the Ax Man fared in his 2012 Oscars predictions. Fun read.

[xisxisxis]

Also, if you're going to have montages, you should have at least one montage that represents the film year being honored. That's the place for Twilight, not in a montage with classics.

 

Yep. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I turned off the oscars at that point as I really was aghast that they would include Twilight in the montage. This was the weakest year in my memory so I didn't need much to get me to turn away. I've listened to the talking heads and I like some of the suggestions, like:

 

• Move all the technical awards to a separate show (probably a cable channel).
  Have a ticker thank you running across the bottom of the people the winner wants to thank instead of having everyone list all their agents and reps.
  Expanded categories

 

The problem with expanded categories (like the golden globes with best actor/actress in a comedy/musical, etc.) is that it's a real break with tradition. The problem for the academy is that the technical awards only appeal to a small minority while the big awards are too few unless you expand. So either break with tradition or see the interest in the awards dissipate.

[pitchleague]

I apologize for bumping an old topic, but I finally saw "The Tree of Life" last night. Um, I kind of want 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life back.

 

Yeah, it was "beautiful" and "well shot" from a cinematography standpoint, but the story, although I was able to follow it fine, was just too . . . . what's the right word? . . . . . Harumph??

 

The story was just kind of blah. I completely did not understand the Sean Penn angle (he was one of the sons? He was the dead ghost spirit of the son who died? I honestly do not know.) And the use of the big bang and creation of the universe just appeared to me for two reasons: 1) to get an Oscar nom for cinematography, and 2) to waste 20-30 minutes of film time. I can only imagine the comments being thrown about a theater during this period of time. At least, for the first time ever, I felt comfortable to NOT pause the movie when going to the restroom or making popcorn, knowing full well that I wasn't going to miss a thing.

[RobertR]

You'll probably want to avoid Upstream Color.

[homer]

I apologize for bumping an old topic, but I finally saw "The Tree of Life" last night. Um, I kind of want 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life back.

 

Yeah, it was "beautiful" and "well shot" from a cinematography standpoint, but the story, although I was able to follow it fine, was just too . . . . what's the right word? . . . . . Harumph??

 

The story was just kind of blah. I completely did not understand the Sean Penn angle (he was one of the sons? He was the dead ghost spirit of the son who died? I honestly do not know.) And the use of the big bang and creation of the universe just appeared to me for two reasons: 1) to get an Oscar nom for cinematography, and 2) to waste 20-30 minutes of film time. I can only imagine the comments being thrown about a theater during this period of time. At least, for the first time ever, I felt comfortable to NOT pause the movie when going to the restroom or making popcorn, knowing full well that I wasn't going to miss a thing.

 

That pretty much sums up how I feel about all Terence Malick movies. Watch them with the sound off, enjoy the beautiful cinematography, and avoid the pretentious voice over.