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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:24 pm
by abcinyvr
A Beautiful Mind was one of those movies which people didn't just like, they went on about how it affected them; blah blah blah. And I had to listen to it as everyone I know or work with knows how focused I am on film. It was painful! And so was the movie. I heard the same about The Cider House Rules - from the same people.
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:24 pm
by criddic3
Bog wrote:criddic3 wrote:A Beautiful Mind was also a crowd pleaser of a different kind. People still tell me how much they loved that movie
Sadly this is very true, and makes me want to just puke my guts out. For me it's number 80, then 81, then 82...
For the people that confess to me that A Beautiful Mind is their favorite film, I assume they would utter sentences like "I'm not too excited for the Oscars this year, never heard of No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood....when does Pirates 4 come out?"
Actually I have seen the opposite happen. People who love to watch the Oscars and see prestige films do like the film. It has a wide fan base, though not as wide as Gladiator. 
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:31 pm
by OscarGuy
I'm not at all defending Crash, I'm putting it down for cribbing the line/moment from Daisy.
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:04 pm
by HarryGoldfarb
Yes but I don't think it can be consdered a Driving Miss Daisy-cribbed moment (or it actually is in an overwhelmingly shameful and uneffective way)... where DMD took its time to show how an unlikely relationship can be forged based only on humanity and kindness, Crash rushed through a gimmick/accidental thing and what can be considered a normal reaction from a maid becomes the moment of epiphany, the ultimate atonement for Bullock's character and her final turning point! I'm not against Bullock, it's the screenplay, the characters and eventually the whole film that's not believable... she actually did some good job with that soapy/one dimensional character...
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:36 am
by OscarGuy
HarryGoldfarb wrote:Worst moment: Bullock's realizing her latin maid is her real and only friend! Man, that scene alone should have avoided the film to win Best Picture!.
Ah. You mean the Driving Miss Daisy-cribbed moment.
The thing is, her maid probably didn't even like her and wouldn't have considered her a friend, yet she thinks they are friends. It's sad and pathetic in multiple ways.
Now, rising from the grave: Van Helsing to bemoan our ridicule of Bullock's pivotal scene in Crash, a title both figurative and literal.
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:13 am
by Bog
criddic3 wrote:A Beautiful Mind was also a crowd pleaser of a different kind. People still tell me how much they loved that movie
Sadly this is very true, and makes me want to just puke my guts out. For me it's number 80, then 81, then 82...
For the people that confess to me that A Beautiful Mind is their favorite film, I assume they would utter sentences like "I'm not too excited for the Oscars this year, never heard of No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood....when does Pirates 4 come out?"
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:14 am
by criddic3
Even though I liked the film, I'll go with Crash. If only for the fact that it beat out a beautiful film like Brokeback Mountain, which lost because voters were nervous about promoting a "gay cowboy movie." I think it was less about their own homophobia as their fear that nobody would watch the Oscars ever again. I know some people who threatened not to if it won.
Gladiator wasn't a huge surprise to me. It was very popular, made tons of money and got respectable reviews. On top of that, it made the older voters remember the old days when such fare was standard viewing for the masses. Still, it won largely on the strength of Crowe's performance. Connie Nielsen was fine in my view, although it's true that she's no Jennifer Connelly.
A Beautiful Mind was also a crowd pleaser of a different kind. Audiences cried during the film. I didn't cry, but I did feel sympathy for the characters. People still tell me how much they loved that movie (Remember, I work in a video store). So this was never a surprise to me. Ron Howard had been working for years as a director, making some popular films and earning deserved credibility with his Apollo 13. The Academy probably felt it was time to reward him. In my opinion, his later work on Cinderella Man proves that he continues to grow as a director (though The Da Vinci Code makes one wonder about that).
American Beauty is a good film, but even then I thought that The Sixth Sense was better.
I loved Chicago, admired Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (how does he keep making such good movies?), enjoyed Shakespeare in Love and The Departed, and thought No Country for Old Men was terrific.
So, I guess that means I don't have any major complaints about the Best Picture choices, though many of my picks were not the same in those years.
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:06 am
by HarryGoldfarb
All in all, a weird decade... don't know how future generations will see this choices, how respectable would they seem in years to come. The Director's line up is way better that the Best Picture one.
The Departed is my favorite film of the bunch, the one I consider the best. No Country for Old Men is in a far second, but mainly because of the figurative storytelling about how goodness can not do anything about the evilness in the world. I found the message within the film to be more powerful than the film itself.
Shakespeare is a nice film and even though it ain't the best of the year it's a smart choice. The screenplay "makes it" smart. Don't know why American Beauty is so hated right now. At its time it was the ultimate thing! Hasn't it aged well? Every "contemporary film" is in risk of not aging very well but this one is shot beautifully and the story is universal enough to make it a necessary film. Pretentious? Yes, but in the end quite effective. I actually enjoyed Gladiator, with all its inaccuracies and flamboyant speeches, I give credits to Crowe for making a cartoonish character look human... and it's epic enough to fill my needs of grandeur! Chicago is a harmless film with no edge, an uneventful one but it's fun story with some great visuals to watch. Entertaining is a major reason for considering a film as the best. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King though not the best of the year either (it wasn't even the best of the trilogy) was a more than understandable choice.
This leaves me with A Beautiful Mind, Million Dollar Baby and Crash.
I give credits to Eastwood for telling a story apparently close to his heart, one he felt deep affection for. I like the film, the directing and the performances, but the story just doesn't work for me and that's what makes great films. In the end, it is a very good film I don't want to see again...
On the other hand A Beautiful Mind is an absolute embarassment. A shameful self-indulgent film. Not even a biopic, with a cheap "twist" and corny as summer films can be. The fact that it was selled as a serious film gives me nauseas and it only proves how managable academy voters are. The fact that it won in the presence of Gosford Park, the groundbreaking The Fellowship of the Ring (the best of the trilogy), the innovative Moulin Rouge and the devastating/contundent In the Bedroom actually makes it look worst than it really is...
But my vote goes to Crash... I'm sorry, as I've said before I haven't get over it. First of all, the film is not even Oscar material (except for Thandie Newton's performance and a Screenplay nod, which I was expecting the whole year as a "nice surprise", damn!). Looks like a bad tv movie, corny, extremely self-indulgent, based on "big coincidences" that actually are weird, awkward and unlikely to happen in order to explain human relationships and that's what bothers me... It depends on big effects. It's pretentious trying to achieve "profound meanings" and so on... There's this thing of "This film will change your life" written in every scene and I hated that. It's superficial in its approach to the material... and the characters are so stereotypical that they actually seem like cartoons. Worst moment: Bullock's realizing her latin maid is her real and only friend! Man, that scene alone should have avoided the film to win Best Picture!. And do you want a plus: It beated BBM!
Well... I kinda feel better...
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:04 am
by Sabin
Tough between 'Crash' and 'A Beautiful Mind'. Ultimately nothing in 'Crash' is as offensive as how Ron Howard & co. extols the heroism of a dipshit who refuses him medication and threatens everybody around him for decades while talking like a mumblemouth jackass.
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:17 am
by Nik
Agreed Damien. As a matter of fact, even A Beautiful Mind and American Beauty are worse than Crash. I will never understand how Gladiator was even nominated. Let alone generate some positive reviews.
Edited By Nik on 1204525080
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:35 am
by Damien
Gladiator is just so stupid. Compared to it, Crash is positively Chekovian.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:26 pm
by Aceisgreat
Crash
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:35 pm
by Penelope
Million Dollar Baby.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:28 pm
by Akash
I bet Crash will win here but it's not nearly as awful as the two back-to-back Russell Crowe films. I'm glad Mind has the most votes thus far, but I have to go with the completely artless Gladiator (Connie Nielsen is no Jennifer Connelly, you know?). I also hated Chicago and A Beautiful Mind, but they're both not without their mitigating factors.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:16 am
by OscarGuy
And the other side of the coin is true.