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Oscar Nominations (LotR, Spirited Away, and more)
An anonymous reader noted that the
Oscar Nominees
are now online. The Two Towers is nominated for Best Picture, and Miyazaki's Spirited Away is nominated for Best Animated Picture (someday an Anime will be nominated Best Picture). Road to Perdition, Spider-Man, and even Star Wars have random nominations throughout the list. Even Eminem's got a nomination now ;)
There's tons of other good movies in there too (Adaptation, Chicago) and a bunch of movies I've never seen. Anyway, talk amongst yourselves ;)
Is there a hollywood conspiracy against Scorecese (even though he got nominated), can anyone believe he hasn't won best director yet?
It would have been interesting (and genuinely deserved) to see Andy Serkis nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, his performance defied conventional categorization. Perhaps they can figure out what to do about this before next year...
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Thanks to slashdot for stating the obvious.. Yeesh.
And now, the not to obvious:
The Golden Raspberry Awards.
The fact that Gangs Of New York got nominated sort of cinches it for me. I havent seen acting that bad and Irish accents that poor since.... uhh... wait, I've never heard acting and Irish accents that poor! Ever!
Bowie J. Poag
Bowling for Columbine, hands down, the best FILM of the year, let alone the best documentary. Too bad it couldn't have been nominated for both, but I don't see how it cannot win best documentary. Absolutely one of the most impactful things I have ever viewed. I saw it when it came out, and I really want to see it again. Even if you disagree with some of the views that it presents, you need to see it.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
...are at Rotten Tomatoes.
What, you guys didn't love Juwanna Mann ?
Go watch something like Grave of the Fireflies and then come back and tell us how that's an adolescent fantasy.
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So don't get too offended when Spirited Away loses to Lilo & Sitch, and The Two Towers gets beaten by Chicago.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I am by no means a cinematic expert, but like most people, I enjoy movies and I see my fair share. I think I can appreciate an off-beat, artistic movie (Adaption), as well as a solid dramatic piece (White Oleander) or a hard-edged cop thriller (NARC). You might like or dislike any of those movies, but in my opinion they all have appeal and I enjoyed them.
Far From Heaven, on the other hand, was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I saw it with my two closest friends, and we left after 90 minutes of agony. I've only walked out of one other movie in my life (Bloodwork), and the three of us spent the rest of the evening talking about how painstakingly bad Far From Heaven was.
And then I look at the internet. Almost every movie critic thought Far From Heaven was a masterpiece. Why? The dialogue was painful, the story was farfetched and flat out laughable at times, and I thought Dennis Quaid's acting was a joke (I ordinarily like him). What do these critics see that I am missing?
Anyway, I'm glad that Paul Newman received an Oscar nomination for Road to Perdition. I was greatly disappointed by this movie as Tom Hanks is my favorite actor and the movie just wasn't very interesting. But Paul Newman was stellar in his role and very much deserved a nomination.
Another movie that has received critical acclaim of which I do not understand is Gangs of New York. Leo DiCaprio was pitiful in his role, and Daniel Day Lewis spent half the movie talking like Deniro, and half the movie talking like some guy from Brooklyn. The story was flat out boring - revenge stories have simply been done to death, and this added nothing new. Cameron Diaz was especially bad in this (as bad as she is in everything). Yet this movie received tons of critical acclaim. Why? DiCaprio was very good in Catch Me If You Can, where he could play a young, cocky kid who schmoozes his way through life. But he has no edge, and looking angry for two hours doesn't count.
White Oleander was one of the most underrated movies of the year in my opinion. Alison Lohman was just fantastic in this role, and this movie was very interesting and entertaining at the same time. Minority Report was probably my favorite movie of the year, but was dismissed.
Anyway, I don't understand what makes movie critics tick. Adaptation was an inventive movie, that I liked. I can understand critics liking it. But Far From Heaven and Gangs of New York were total throwaways as far as I'm concerned, and I don't understand how anyone could watch them and come away thinking, "that was great!"
Proof that the entertainment industry is utterly full of itself.
I hope I'm not the only one here who takes care to watch exactly zero of these per year.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
I made an icon for LOTR a while ago, but couldn't figure out where to post it. You can see it here.
Taco, are you listening?
I think in some ways there probably shouldn't be a "Best Picture", because that will inevitably lead people to make to apples and organges comparisons (Spirted Away to LOTR, in this case). However I don't think it's going out on a limb to say that Miyazaki's works are generally some of the finest filmmaking ever.
Miyazaki's work has three hallmarks, none of which are anime/animation specific:
Pacing: Miyazaki has the confidence to let things take time instead of rushing to the payoff. He doesn't need explosions and chases to generate excitement: he uses psychology and timing. He makes you want to know what is around the corner, and then makes you wait as the characters discover it in real time.
Composition: Miyazaki's animation doesn't have the attention lavished on character motion that Disney animation has. It is rudimentary and sometimes jerky by comparison (although this is also used for effect). However, the landscapes he puts the characters in is lavishly realized, almost every frame a masterpiece of landscape painting. Furthermore, these aren't just throwaway backdrops against which the action takes place; the landscape is often another character in itself, telling you about the situations the character is in.
Characterization: It's been said that Miyazaki's characters all look alike from movie to movie. This may be true; I like to think of them as actors that he uses over and over again. However, they are all distinct persons. Miyazaki's stories are character driven; the plot arises out of putting characters in situations. Even while he uses elements of magic and the fantastic, he's most interested in specific human conditions. In Spirited Away, he is interested in what happens to the bond between a child and parent when the child reaches an age where she has the capacity to become independent.
Looked at on these dimensions, Spirted Away is far superior to LOTR:TTT, which in my book is high praise. But it's apples and oranges again. Peter Jackson is somewhat saddled by the nature of his source material. Miyazaki conceives his work specifically for his medium, for what he knows will work in an animated film. For Jackson to try to display the same strengths Miyazaki has would either result in a movie that was several times longer already, or to cut and compress the source material until it was unrecognizable.
I'm glad Jackson did the LOTR movies. But if there were one series of movies I wish everyone would see, it would be Miyazaki's.
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The best supported actress!