disclaimer: this (of course) only relates to the movies i have SEEN. i only prejudge movies that are lauded with the line, "the family film of the year." i am positive i will hate that movie.
a word (or two) on avatar:
i am completely sick of everyone's strange fascination with EVERYTHING james cameron directs. avatar was a LACKLUSTER TRAIN WRECK of a film. horrible acting. predictable plot. pathetic love story... BUT... like a train wreck, you just couldn't look away. using nothing but beauty, avatar hypnotized people into thinking it has cinematic value, much like scarlett johansson. a lot of work went into avatar. there's no doubt about that.
a lot of work went into waterworld, also.
give it EVERY VISUAL EFFECTS AWARD. but putting it up against movies like a serious man and the hurt locker is just insulting.
cameron already pulled the wool over our eyes once before. remember the 1998 academy awards? titanic won. you know what it beat?
1.) as good as it gets
2.) good will hunting
3.) l.a. confidential
4.) the full monty
numbers 1-4 were BETTER MOVIES. i understand that garbage like avatar (which is even worse than titanic) is hollywood's lifeblood, but rewarding a movie with the film industry's most prestigious award just because it's making a shit ton of money is just silly.
ten "best picture" nominations and other communist plots:
in case you hadn't heard, there are a LOT of movies nominated for the top prize this year. they are: avatar, the blind side, district 9, an education, the hurt locker, inglorious basterds, precious, a serious man, up, and up in the air. of these, i have seen all but the blind side, an education and precious, so i won't talk about those. SO, discounting the ones i have no business talking about, here is my UPDATED list of nominees... you know... movies that were good and DESERVE such an award:
1.) a serious man
2.) the hurt locker
3.) up in the air
4.) star trek
5.) 500 days of summer
"whoa whoa... hold on a tic... 4 & 5 weren't even nominated!"
oh man... you're right... sorry, i totally thought for a second that the academy awards AREN'T TOTAL BULLSHIT. i'm going to reference rottentomatoes.com for a moment. this is a website that collects all the reviews from every critic that submits one, and sees whether the review is positive or negative. movies are then graded by a percentage that depends on the number of positive reviews. SO, in the world of professional movie critics, let's see how numbers 4 & 5 fared:
star trek: 94%
500 days of summer: 87%
wait... so, people who WATCH AND REVIEW MOVIES FOR A LIVING thought that star trek was better than every nominee except the hurt locker and up, and JUST AS GOOD as an education? (500 days of summer was only better reviewed than the blind side [70%] and avatar [82%]) something fishy is going on here...
travesties abound, but what did i expect? the golden globes are usually a pretty good indicator of how the oscars are gonna go gown, even though they bear as much significance as a freakin' cable ACE award. but why do i care? i haven't watched the oscars since the great sideways snubbing of 2005. to quote my lovely girlfriend on the topic of up being nominated for best picture AND best animated picture (which should absolutely go to the fantastic mr. fox):
"well good thing I already think the oscars are rubbish... otherwise I would be upset."
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I've never watched the Oscars. But the thing that bugs me the most is when they give out "consolation Oscars" for people that have been nominated 34553908420 times and haven't won yet. *cough*Kate Winslet*cough, cough*
ReplyDeleteI hated most of the Lord of the Rings movies.
THERE, I SAID IT.
Like Avatar, they were visually appealing, and New Zealand did a great job of depicting Middle Earth the way it was described in the books. It didn't help that (with the exception of Return of the King, I actually liked that one) each movie was too long, too dull, and full of people that can't act for shit (except maybe Ian McKellan). But even though I liked Return of the King, it was against superior films. Mystic River, Lost in Translation.
But wait! A lot of people say. Mystic River and Lost in Translation are completely different movies than Return of the King. It's like comparing apples and oranges. True. But as far as storytelling, pacing and acting go those movies are still better.
So the short version is that the Oscars are bullshit. It's a night for rich celebrities to get dressed up, look pretty, and pat each other on the back. Like a prom. "Everyone" is invited to the prom, but only the skankiest ho and jockiest jock are crowned king and queen... not necessarily the best looking/nicest people. And the Hurt Locker may be the best looking/nicest girl this year, but Avatar was the skankiest ho + had a disabled guy. Oscar gold.