Best Picture and Director 2001

1998 through 2007

What are your picks for Best Picture and Director of 2001?

A Beautiful Mind
0
No votes
Gosford Park
19
27%
In the Bedroom
4
6%
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
10
14%
Moulin Rouge!
2
3%
Robert Altman - Gosford Park
6
9%
Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind
0
No votes
Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
8
11%
David Lynch - Mulholland Drive
19
27%
Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down
2
3%
 
Total votes: 70

FilmFan720
Emeritus
Posts: 3650
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:57 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by FilmFan720 »

In my opinion, 2001 was a great year for movies if only because it gave us two flat-out masterpieces that both strongly stand in my best films of all time list: The Royal Tenenbaums and Mulholland Dr. The fact that neither of them managed more than one token nod is a travesty. Add in the further dismissal of The Man Who Wasn't There, No Man's Land, Ghost World, The Pledge and Amores Perros, and there isn't much for me to get excited about here at all.

A Beautiful MInd is easily the first film to go here, a condescending look at mental illness filled with dull performances and a plodding tempo. The only thing saving the thing is the work of Roger Deakins, although he too had far better work this year.

Black Hawk Down answers the question What Would Happen if the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan became a full-length feature? It is exciting and harrowing, but you don't really have any connection to any of the soldiers and after a while the whole thing becomes a little desensitizing. I won't complain with Scott being here, although he wouldn't be on my list at all.

Lord of the Rings is not my cup of tea, although I think that Fellowship is by far the best of the three films. It is the least bloated of the three films, although still starts to get a little ridiculous as the film goes on. I remember thinking by the time we got to the big ending that I didn't care anymore, but I have two more of these films to get through before we get a real ending...if only I knew the real ending was 15 endings by itself!

I like Moulin Rouge much more than most here seem to. Like Tee said, you have to give kudos to a film that takes one singular vision and runs with it as much as this one does; unlike others here, though, I find the film wildly entertaining. I won't vote for it, but I remember being ecstatic at its inclusion nomination morning and am still happy to see it here.

Gosford Park may not be on a list of Robert Altman's best films, but is may be one of his most accessible films and is a great late nomination for the master. The film is a clever enough piece, and it has plenty of laughs and chuckles, but in the end it feels a little too familiar for the director of such genre-smashing films as MASH, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, etc.

My vote in Best Picture goes to In the Bedroom, one of my favorite films of the year and a film that does play with genre in a really interesting way. I remember a friend casting the movie aside to me, saying he didn't need to see it because he'd already seen Ordinary People. The fact that the film shifts in the final third is in my mind completely earned, and makes the film something more than the usual parental grieving film. The fact that the rest of the film is so well-acted (why does no one cite the scene where Sissy Spacek meets the killer in the grocery store?) and emotionally honest only helps raise the film. I heartily endorse it as the winner of this group.

For Best Director, I vote David Lynch. I don't feel like that needs any explanation.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by The Original BJ »

I'm surprised to see multiple people gripe about the overall quality of this year -- for me, it's almost up there with 1999 as one of the best recent movie years, full of exciting and inventive movies.

At the time, my favorite of the lot was Ghost World, though it could be another case of being the right movie for me at the right time. Its portrait of a disaffected young art student, delivered with the same suburban snark of American Beauty (and even embodied by the same actress), appealed immensely to my sensibilities at that age. I thought the movie was flat-out hysterical -- I don't know if I've ever laughed so much in a movie theater -- and by the end it had even delivered a hugely affecting emotional wallop as well. I haven't seen the movie in a decade, and I wonder if now I might find it a little small, but I have tremendously fond memories of it.

After that, I'd rank the year's two great puzzle movies -- Mulholland Drive and Memento -- as clearly deserving of Picture/Director citations. A lot of my friends were really starting to get into "cinema" at this age, and the conversations that flowed between us over these two movies really contributed to my enthusiasm for films that almost required analysis to unpack their meanings.

Beyond that, I can list a bunch of movies I found to be pretty wonderful -- The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson's best film), In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai's best film), A.I. (one of my favorite Spielbergs), The Man Who Wasn't There (one of my favorite Coens), the totally one-of-a-kind Waking Life, the underrated Pixar gem Monsters, Inc., and (what one critic at the time, can't remember who, deemed) soccer mom noir The Deep End. And I loved a number of movies that made the actual Best Picture list as well.

It's in this context that A Beautiful Mind's win was so dispiriting. I didn't think the movie was so awful -- I thought it was well-acted, and featured some moments that were emotionally resonant (most of all Connelly's "This is real" scene). But with so many adventurous movies available, it's ridiculous that something so conventional could walk away with both top prizes. And "conventional" is a pretty generous word for the second chunk of the movie -- I think the big twist is mostly a cheap "gotcha!" that trivializes mental illness, and the movie just becomes more and more mawkish as it lurches toward its hugely sentimental finale. Ron Howard is, at best, a competent craftsman, but even by his own artless standards, his work here just lays on the maudlin touches to the phoniest degrees. Given the way the precursors turned out, I kept hoping Mind would lose at least ONE of the top prizes -- obviously the critics groups passed completely, but so did BAFTA and those one-year-only AFI Awards, and even where Beautiful Mind did have its triumphs (Globe/Guild), it had its losses too (with Gosford Park taking the Directing Globe & SAG, and Moulin Rouge the PGA). Oscar night ended up a real bummer.

After I had seen Black Hawk Down, a friend asked me what it was like, and I remember saying, it was like the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan, only for two hours. Technically, it was definitely impressive, and it's pretty hard to fault the photography/editing/sound that made the movie such a visceral experience. So, points to Ridley Scott for craft. However, I thought the movie was pretty low on content/story (i.e. that portion of Private Ryan that made it a lot more for me than astonishingly filmed action). As a result, per usual, the clear abilities that Scott DOES have aren't really used in service of material that amounts to all that much for me.

Someone once told me that Moulin Rouge is either a movie that you LOVE or HATE. I disagree. I think the movie is a thrill of a thing, full of dazzling sets and costumes, a well-chosen collection of songs, and smashingly staged and visualized production numbers. (I don't think Luhrmann was robbed of a Director nomination or anything, but I'll definitely concede that, in this case, the Picture nod without the Director spot does seem peculiar, given how much of a singular vision the film is.) But, as I started watching more and more classic film musicals, my opinion of Moulin Rouge began to dip -- the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic isn't very graceful, Nicole Kidman (much as I'm fond of her) isn't a musical comedienne, and there's basically zero thematic depth behind any of the musical numbers. Oh, and then when I saw Camille, I realized how much of the plot Luhrmann just basically plagiarized. Moulin Rouge doesn't get much consideration from me here -- and honestly, the awards campaign that touted its status as the "riskiest" movie of the year was borderline laughable to me -- but I'd say that it was one of the movies that made 2001 an exciting year.

I think the remaining four movies are all very impressive. On In the Bedroom, I was planning to write the exact same thing Mister Tee did: this was a movie that didn't have much obvious Best Picture pull. It was small. It was dark. It didn't have very big box office. Yet few people doubted it would find its way onto the Best Picture list, and a lot of that has to do with the way Harvey Weinstein (this time, admirably) turned those critical raves into mainstream awards success. I like what Roger Ebert wrote about the movie, that it's exciting how it keeps reinventing itself, going from a compelling family drama about small-town life to a devastating portrait of one couple's grief to a gripping and morally complex revenge thriller. And throughout, the sensational cast delivers one great moment after another: Wilkinson's face as he gets the tragic phone call, Tomei on the witness stand, Spacek viciously slapping Tomei with her backhand, the outstanding "Everything!" plate smash fight (repeated ad nauseum at awards shows throughout the season), Wilkinson's final reaction as he returns home at the end of the film, etc. I find the movie to be a deeply moving piece of work, and though I think it's a little on the tiny side to get my vote, I honor its achievements.

Given Oscar's enthusiasm for big epics throughout the '80's & '90's, I had assumed The Fellowship of the RIng would be the frontrunner for Best Picture, and those 13 nominations only served to set up great disappointment for me when it didn't win. I thought Rings was a breathtaking achievement, and even from its early scenes in the Shire I found myself utterly transported to the richly imagined world designed by Jackson and co. (by way of Tolkien). And then, once the narrative kicked in, I was completely gripped by the adventure of the plot, the genuine sense of terror that hung over the proceedings, as well as the warm sense of humor that somehow existed within the same universe. By the time Gandalf took his big plunge, I was so invested in the characters and their journey that this moment landed with great emotional power. I think this is the best of the three Rings films -- although the visual effects would become increasingly eye-popping in future installments (though they were already pretty dazzling here), this first installment, perhaps simply by its very nature, felt the most fresh. Bravo to Peter Jackson for handling both the epic and the intimate with equal aplomb, and for creating the kind of awe-inspiring world that can only exist in the movies.

But over the years, I have only grown more and more fond of Gosford Park. Robert Altman's skill in pulling off this ambitious movie is sensational -- so many scenes contain frames filled to the brim with characters, and the way their dialogue and various plotlines careen in and out of view makes for a thrilling moviegoing experience. Oh, and I think Julian Fellowes deserves A LOT of credit, for the delicious witty dialogue, and a murder mystery plot with a genuinely surprising conclusion. (The narrative only gains in resonance on repeat viewings, once you know who all the characters are, and how they're related.) And both he and Altman take the upstairs/downstairs concept used in countless other stories and find fresh, contemporary angles on the way both worlds are inextricably tied to one another, and how the social politics and hierarchies of both spheres compare and contrast. I was rooting very deeply for Altman on Oscar night, both for his amazing career, but also for the genuine wow of this project, which even at the time seemed like the last great triumph of his career. But in terms of this game, Gosford Park only gets my Best Picture vote.

And David Lynch gets Best Director, because I think Mulholland Drive is an even superior movie, and one even more tied to the genius of its helmer's one-of-a-kind worldview. The more traditional first part of the movie is full of a whole bunch of odd, unique touches, from the shot of the elderly couple giggling after dropping off Watts, to the spine-tingling reveal of the homeless man behind the diner, from the eerie image of memory-less Harring after her accident, to the crazy soothsayer who arrives at Watts's apartment. Throughout, it is creepy, often very funny ("Have you ever done this before?" / "I don't know."), hauntingly shot, and full of tension -- in other words, classic Lynch. And once the movie goes into the blue box, it just becomes completely insane, as the plot makes a hairpin wild turn to the point that you almost can't believe you're watching the conclusion to the narrative you'd been following until that point. And yet...it causes the viewer to completely re-evaluate all that came before in a way that feels completely of a piece, and not just the ending tacked on to an unsuccessful TV pilot. As a whole, Mulholland Drive is a wildly inventive movie -- one which, as I said, inspired a whole bunch of theories about what it meant among my classmates -- and I was thrilled Lynch squeaked through to make the Director ballot.
User avatar
Eric
Tenured
Posts: 2749
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 11:18 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Eric »

Mister Tee wrote:So, Eric, your extortion tactic worked. (Kidding, kidding) I do find it odd that you made your dire stand for Lynch in this year, where, except for the execrable Howard, the directing line-up is all reasonably deserving.
Well, it was clearly a hollow threat, and extortion only insofar as kids saying "trick-or-treat" on Halloween is extortion. That said, of the 3 times he's been nominated for best director, I think Mulholland is far and away the leader of the pack, so, no, him winning the poll in 1986 is not a consolation prize.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Mister Tee »

For once, several of my top movies managed to make the best picture list – but the good of that was offset when the voters chose to single out the worst of them.

The major miss was Memento – that long-long-ago movie that made some of us mislabel Christopher Nolan as an indie auteur . It was my second favorite film of the year, and when it made the DGA list, I thought it was in the bank for at least lone director. David Lynch’s gain was this film’s loss.

I also highly rated Ghost World, A.I. and The Deep End.

The worst of the seven movies on these two lists is clearly A Beautiful Mind. I found the first hour diverting enough -- the fake-out roommate stuff – but really disliked the treacly turn of the second half. In a bizarre way, the Academy was honoring a contemporary trend: the mind-fuck movie that subverts its entire narrative (a la Usual Suspects, Fight Club). But, just as when it later chose to elevate the Pulp Fiction/Magnolia-sprawling plot/fragmented time trend with Crash, they chose about the worst possible example of the genre.

I view Moulin Rouge! similar to the way I view Breaking the Waves: in each case, I credit a director with taking a concept and running with it to the end of the earth – despite the fact I find the concept borderline insane. When the film winds down, and the Nature Boy lyrics are repeated yet again (“is just to love …and be loved… in return”), I find myself thinking, does Luhrmann actually think that’s some profound idea? (Based on his other work, I suspect yes) But the whirling motion of the film is something to see, and, throughout, I knew I wasn’t watching just the same old thing. (By the way: I’d contend the most annoying GoldDerby comment that year about the film was the endlessly repeated “Yes we can-can!”)

So, Eric, your extortion tactic worked. (Kidding, kidding) I do find it odd that you made your dire stand for Lynch in this year, where, except for the execrable Howard, the directing line-up is all reasonably deserving. I think Black Hawk Down is probably Scott’s best post-Thelma and Louise effort, and his action staging is quite impressive. I don’t consider him for the win, but the film was top ten caliber.

If Chocolat a year back was Harvey Weinstein at his worst, In the Bedroom showed his upside. In the Bedroom should never have made it as a best picture candidate in the five-film era. While the story arc isn’t so unusual (rather reminiscent of Ordinary People, in fact), the film’s rhythms are offbeat, its tones unexpected. A terrific cast helps, and Todd Field does a wonderful job orchestrating all this (it’s odd he would fail under directing, when the film is more the sort that gets lone director). In the Bedroom is one of my three or four favorite films of 2001, so, for once, god bless Harvey.

I spent my adolescence and much of my adulthood avoiding the Lord of the Rings books. I’ve never been all that high on fantasy in general, and something about the way people read these books so avidly – the way they almost proselytized for them – made me want to avoid ever having to have an opinion about them. Peter Jackson’s three movies didn’t exactly change my view, but I do think this first film, anyway, was pretty gorgeous, full of never-seen-that-before imagery, and I admired it even if from a distance. If one of the films was going to get the Academy to swoon, by me it ought to have been this one. I actually consider giving Jackson my vote for best director, but find two somewhat superior choices dissuading me.

Mullholland Drive confirms my view that, while David Lynch untethered can produce incomprehensible films (Lost Highway, Inland Empire), when he’s at least nominally tied to a commercial project (as in The Elephant Man or Twin Peaks), his clear gifts add immeasurably and create something unique. Mulholland Drive starts off as a “normal struggling actress in dark Los Angeles” story, but at some point takes off into the ether – becoming a dream fantasia that somehow completes Naomi Watts’ fate without ever spelling it out. I think Mulholland is Lynch’s finest film post-Blue Velvet, and he gets best director consideration.

But I think Gosford Park is the year’s best film, and one of Altman’s crowning achievements, so I have to pick it in both slots. Julian Fellowes should probably be given SOME credit – the plot is nicely worked out, and some of the dialogue is too sparkling to have been created off-the-cuff. But so much of what makes the film special proceeds from Altman – the immense number of seemingly caught-off-guard moments, like the servants listening to Ivor Novello, and, most particularly, the fluid way he moves from upstairs to downstairs, visually communicating the impossibility of the two worlds staying separate (which helps predict the decline of the British aristocracy). Altman was long a master of the snarky American milieu, but here he stepped into territory seemingly foreign to him and mastered it completely. A triumph that gets both my votes.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Big Magilla »

In the Mood for Love was eligible, but not a likely nominee, let alone winner given its support among critics was mostly for Best Foreign Film with little to no support in other categories.
Okri
Tenured
Posts: 3345
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Okri »

So, this is where oscar hindsight/foresight and UAAD hindsight/foresight get massively clusterfucked in my voting process.

To wit: If I'm voting honestly, without regard for history I would vote for the LOTR trilogy five times (all five picture/directing nominations) that's how much I adore these films. But frankly, that feels over the top. But then I remember that all of these films I've seen at LEAST a half dozen times and if my admiration for them is that over the top, why pretend otherwise. Then I remember that even with my love being so strong, I haven't seen them since the mid 2000s and maybe my opinion would diminish a little. Blah blah blah. But even if I have outgrown them (and I seriously doubt I have) there’s something to be said celebrating that love anyway. I hadn’t read the books (I got stuck halfway through the first one) and while the trailer had raised my expectations, I was prepared to be disappointed. I wasn’t even remotely. The story telling is just so good. There are scenes that have achieved a breathtaking alchemy (being chased by the Ringwraiths, the Balrog) and I can’t deny, Gandalf’s final scene ripped me to pieces. When I think of Hollywood magic, The Fellowship of the Ring will always come to mind.

If I'm voting as an oscar voter: I'm voting for Robert Altman (because he hasn't won) and LOTR this year (we'll talk later years later). But I'm also thinking seriously that maybe Jackson has the best shot to defeat Howard, and I'm in a negative campaign mood (see best actor). Truthfully, Gosford Park is probably not a masterpiece, but it is such a well-orchestrated delight that to call it anything less than a magnificent achievement undersells it. It doesn’t say much, but it says it with a canny fun that I find largely irresistable.

If I'm voting with UAADB hindsight/foresight, I don't have to worry about Altman (two time winner already). I expect Jackson will have an easy time in 2003. And I don't want Eric to leave. So I vote(d) for Lynch. Granted, it's a hypnotic fever dream of a film with some stunning moments throughout and such a canny starmaking performance from Watts that you know totally came from him so it's not as if it's a bad, mediocre or even just "good" choice.

Other thoughts about this year

a) My dad spent an hour explaining to me how terrible the racial politics of Black Hawk Down actually were. I though Scott's direction was briskly competent, but the film itself just wasn't to my taste. I won’t deny, though, that I was entirely distracted through the running time by the two kids some misguided parent brought to the film.

b) In the Bedroom doesn’t hold up nearly as well as I would’ve liked it to, but it’s worthy enough. The quintet of performances are all remarkable and Todd Field trusts them throughout. The ending still packs a punch.

c) I don’t recall if I’m supposed to hate Moulin Rouge at this point. It’s a vivid, thrilling experience, though. I maintain that Kidman and McGregor are absolutely terrific in it and again, there are a handful of remarkable moments.

d) So of course, the least distinguished film by far won in both categories. Howard and Goldsman really do go to great pains to remove anything interesting from this story so we’re left with just boring pablum without any hint of emotional truth. I remember being hugely disappointed when the film swept it’s way to the podium.

e) For the most part, it seems like the film year was adequately represented. I wouldn’t argue that there were any hugely erroneous snubs. The films that seemed like they were next in line (Amelie, Shrek) thankfully didn’t make it. Memento and Ghost World are two strong favourites of mine but I don’t think anyone expected them to crack the line-up. I’m pretty sure In the Mood for Love wasn’t even eligible (my second favourite film of the year)
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3790
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by dws1982 »

I'll vote for Gosford Park although I think In the Bedroom is a worthy nominee as well. For Director, I'll vote for Altman, because I do think he handles the ensemble of Gosford Park brilliantly, and does a great job balancing the comic/dramatic elements; Based on the actual films I think that both Scott and Lynch might be more deserving Director picks, but I haven't voted for Altman here before, so I'm going to be a typical Oscar voter here.. The Fellowship of the Ring is perfectly fine right up until Galadriel shows Frodo his future. The movie hits a narrative brick wall there and never recovers though. Still would've rather it swept the board than Return of the King a few years later.

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
2. Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)
3. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
4. The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varda)
5. Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott)
6. Ali (Michael Mann)
7. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
8. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
9. Things Behind the Sun (Alison Anders)
10. O (Tim Blake Nelson)
dws1982
Emeritus
Posts: 3790
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 9:28 pm
Location: AL
Contact:

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by dws1982 »

FilmFan720 wrote:What Lynch managed to achieve with Mulholland Drive is the performances of Watts and company as much as anything else.
Yeah, I would say Lynch deserves a great deal of credit for the Watts performance in Mulholland Drive, especially since in the years since 2001 she's proven herself to be a female Leonardo DiCaprio--pretty much irredeemable unless everything around her is working perfectly.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Big Magilla »

Nope, Peter H. Hunt (1776) directed the stage version. Binder was a TV producer/director noted mostly for musical and variety programs focusing on stars such as Petula Clark, Elvis Presley and Barry Manilow. He most likely directed the cameraman, not the actor.

It may be the director's job to ensure that actors' performances are within the scope of his or her vision as to what the overall film should be, but there are some directors who focus their attention on the crew, not the actors.
Reza
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10031
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:14 am
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Reza »

FilmFan720 wrote:I haven't seen Give 'Em Hell Harry, but if it is well acted then it is also well-directed. It may not be well directed in a visual sense, or in a pacing sense, but you have to give credit to the director for what happens on stage with the actors.
Steve Binder directed this one-man performance which in itself was a live filming of a stage play in front of a Seattle audience.

Can somebody confirm if this was one of those one-man stage shows that James Whitmore performed in all over the country and if Binder was the director all along? Or did Binder just direct this particular live performance? If Whitman performed the piece on stage many times without Binder around then the actor probably gets credit for this filmed performance. If this was the case there couldn't have been too much that Binder brought to Whitman's already well honed performance during the filming.
FilmFan720
Emeritus
Posts: 3650
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:57 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by FilmFan720 »

I haven't seen Give 'Em Hell Harry, but if it is well acted then it is also well-directed. It may not be well directed in a visual sense, or in a pacing sense, but you have to give credit to the director for what happens on stage with the actors.

To bring us back to 2001, Peter Jackson is just as much to blame for the problems with Orlando Bloom's performance as Bloom is, although you also have to give him credit for the successful performances in that movie. When crediting Robert Altman's work in Gosford Park (as I will when I finally get to writing about this year), you have to acknowledge all the wonderful acting going on as much as his camera work and visual eye. They go hand in hand. What Lynch managed to achieve with Mulholland Drive is the performances of Watts and company as much as anything else. Acting is a huge part of directing, and the success or failure of the performers lies under the guise of the director. They shouldn't get complete credit for anything in a film, but it has to enter the conversation. To say otherwise is idiotic.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
mlrg
Associate
Posts: 1747
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by mlrg »

FilmFan720 wrote:
mlrg wrote:
ksrymy wrote:I absolutely cannot fathom how anyone could ever vote for Jackson in either this or the 2003 poll. The acting in the series was terrible, and the entire movie is the work of the special effects crew.
Bad acting doesn't necesarilly mean it's badly directed, which I think the LOTR series isn't. And the special effects crew is directed by the director of the film.
Really? Acting is a huge piece of the directing puzzle, and if the performances don't work then it is a reflection of what the director wasn't able to do...just like every other piece of the film. I had a directing professor once who told us a story about going to see something and talking to one of his professors afterwards. The professor asked how it was, and he said it was really well directed, but the leading lady wasn't very good. The professor said "if the leading lady isn't good, the directing isn't good." A weak performance here or there may be undirectable, but if the acting overall isn't very good, then the directing isn't very good either. There is a lot more to directing than camera angles and special effects.
I agree with your last sentence 100%. What I said is that bad acting doesn't NECESARILLY mean it's badly directed. The film's director is responsible for everything involved in it. Would you say that, for instance, Give'm Hell Harry! is a great piece of directing? No! It's great acting, period.
Reza
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10031
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:14 am
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Reza »

Voted for Gosford Park and Robert Altman.

My picks for 2001:

Best Picture
1. Gosford Park
2. Mulholland Drive
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Black Hawk Down
5. In the Mood For Love

The 6th Spot: Lagaan

Best Director
1. Robert Altman, Gosford Park
2. David Lynch, Mulholland Drive
3. Ridley Scott, Black Hawk Down
4. Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
5. Wong Kar-Wai, In the Mood For Love

The 6th Spot: Christopher Nolan, Memento
Heksagon
Adjunct
Posts: 1229
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 10:39 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by Heksagon »

Three good films and two bad ones. I hardly need to specify which two films I would classify as being weak.

My votes go to the obvious choices here - Gosford Park and David Lynch. I don't think I need to elaborate on that either.

I'm still frustrated about A Beautiful Mind winning this one, but I'm even more frustrated when people I know single it out as a film they like. Why is this pointless, unemotional and unintelligent film with single-dimensional characters so popular? Well, the acting is decent and I suppose this covers up a lot about how shallow and unrealistic the characters are underneath (Indeed, half of the key characters in this film are imaginary beings).

The film has also peculiar themes, which gives it a faux air of originality. Combining a down-to-earth romantic plot with the phony suspense elements is a good idea, even if terribly executed.

Furthermore, it's one of the few films around which is set in Academic circles and which is about "hard" scientists rather than the ubiquitous professors of literature. Also, it's one of the few films about scientists where the scientists aren't portrayed as geeks, which might explain why well-educated people are often partial towards it.
FilmFan720
Emeritus
Posts: 3650
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:57 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Best Picture and Director 2001

Post by FilmFan720 »

mlrg wrote:
ksrymy wrote:I absolutely cannot fathom how anyone could ever vote for Jackson in either this or the 2003 poll. The acting in the series was terrible, and the entire movie is the work of the special effects crew.
Bad acting doesn't necesarilly mean it's badly directed, which I think the LOTR series isn't. And the special effects crew is directed by the director of the film.
Really? Acting is a huge piece of the directing puzzle, and if the performances don't work then it is a reflection of what the director wasn't able to do...just like every other piece of the film. I had a directing professor once who told us a story about going to see something and talking to one of his professors afterwards. The professor asked how it was, and he said it was really well directed, but the leading lady wasn't very good. The professor said "if the leading lady isn't good, the directing isn't good." A weak performance here or there may be undirectable, but if the acting overall isn't very good, then the directing isn't very good either. There is a lot more to directing than camera angles and special effects.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
Post Reply

Return to “The 8th Decade”