covering '89-films to now, I've not seen Miss Daisy, Silence Of The Lambs, Schindler's List, Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, Slumdog Millionaire, The King's Speech, The Artist, 12 Years A Slave or Spotlight. There are two in there that I can imagine it's possible I'd ever see
Just out of morbid curiosity, you clicked on a thread with Oscars in the title why?
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Friday, 22 February 2019 19:44 (five years ago) link
Silence Of The Lambs - great flick, it has a singularly creepy vibe to it that goes well beyond the Lecter scenes and has so much to do with Demme's skillful framing even in the most innocuous scenes. Schindler's List - I still think this is pretty amazing when it's in its peak moments but Spielberg's corny moments towards the end are a bit cheap, and I'm not a fan of a couple of his suspenseful bits in the middle of the horror. Gump - complete trashBraveheart - great battle scenes, the best parts beyond those scenes involve Robert the Bruce and his dad. The rest of it is pretty dumb. The English Patient - I think the performances are all good (Fiennes, Thomas, Binoche, Dafoe, Andrews, Firth) and it's better than its rep as the Fargo-trouncing Oscar bait would have you believe. It's not special or anything however...Titanic - Good spectacle, decent structure, bad script. Gladiator - mostly awful, however as a side note Kingdom of Heaven (director's cut) is the real deal when it comes to Ridley Scott's run of medieval/ancient world battle flicks. A Beautiful Mind - never saw it, why would iMillion Dollar Baby - blahCrash - fuck thisThe Departed - clearly it's not a very personal Scorsese film and Nicholson loses the plot halfway through, but he makes it work. The masculinity shit is there but it's frequently shot down so to speak. It's the best of the Boston movies in recent years. Baldwin is actually funny and Wahlberg is the same, this is maybe the last time these guys were in a film where they were not just tolerable but good. Slumdog Millionaire - ehThe King's Speech - noThe Artist - I liked the OSS films from this director but this is a hard pass12 Years A Slave - It's fineSpotlight - I always forget this won, it's ok.
― omar little, Friday, 22 February 2019 20:04 (five years ago) link
yah I love Baldwin in 30 Rock, and he was good in the recent Missions Impossible; Wahlberg was great in Boogie Nights, The Big Hit, and Three Kings. they're both terrible humans though and most of their 21st century work is gross
a friend and I used to watch the Oscars and Globes with pizza and champagne every year bcz they're dumb and fun to not take seriously; I never bothered to get involved in office sweeps, and stopped even paying attention to nominations once they stopped showing the ceremony on free--to-air.
a huge part of what makes the Oscars the Oscars is that the "big" categories are voted on by old dumb rich idiots; what wins best picture usually reflects this more than any marker of inherent must-watch quality. if The Favourite wins this year I'll be very pleased for it. if Roma wins I'll figure that was a reasonable result all things considered. if Green Book wins I'll be appalled for exactly three seconds, and then never care about it again. (if BlackKklansman wins, I'll shit myself with surprise and die. everything else nominated sucks afaict but so do most winners, let alone annual nominations!)
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:20 (five years ago) link
otm about Baldwin, tho I've enjoyed Wahlberg in comedies a lot more than cop procedurals/war porn.
Spotlight is totally a TV movie but it is good. Pretty funny how Michael Keaton picks up the phone at the end and says "Spotlight" like he's getting the fucking bat signal.
― flappy bird, Friday, 22 February 2019 20:21 (five years ago) link
i forget Baldwin was in the last couple MI flicks, he's good in those.
― omar little, Friday, 22 February 2019 20:26 (five years ago) link
i agree with omar's entire rundown, except that Spotlight was quite good not just okay
― calumy (rip van wanko), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:30 (five years ago) link
Spotlight is perfectly fine. I like it better than at least half of the BP winners from '89-present.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:31 (five years ago) link
spotlight is mediocre. artless. like a made for tv thing. no stellar performances either.
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, February 22, 2019
Nonsense, and lots of TV movies are excellent in the 2000s.
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:31 (five years ago) link
I ranked the 2010 winners.
I saw The Silence of the Lambs again last week. Otm about Demme's framing and editing choices even when the introduction of Lecter and his fellow prisoners in hell is way overstated (the music, the antics). There are a couple car sequences with Starling and Jack Crawford that are small treasures of sexual and professional tension.
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:35 (five years ago) link
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 22, 2019 12:31 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
like a bad one from the 90s then
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:37 (five years ago) link
Nah. The procedural grind of journalism was caught without sentimentality. If Mark Ruffalo hadn't been allowed to huff and puff and blow the newspaper down, it'd be a minor masterpiece.
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:41 (five years ago) link
ruffalo is bad, but so is the script
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Friday, 22 February 2019 20:42 (five years ago) link
No one needs to watch any of these, but ...
Worth The WatchThe Silence Of The LambsSchindler's ListTitanicThe Departed
No Need To Watch But Up To YouForrest GumpThe English PatientMillion Dollar BabySlumdog Millionaire12 Years A SlaveSpotlight
Do Not WatchBraveheartGladiator A Beautiful MindThe King's SpeechThe Artist
BurnCrash
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Friday, 22 February 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link
I see what you did there
― we're far from the challops now (voodoo chili), Friday, 22 February 2019 21:18 (five years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/1tFLZMR.gif
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 February 2019 21:19 (five years ago) link
Spotlight really is a very good film.
― banjoboy, Saturday, 23 February 2019 01:30 (five years ago) link
too...brute for singing
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 01:32 (five years ago) link
^another inscrutable Alfred post ;)
of the Best Picture awards of the last 30 years, Silence of the Lambs and Moonlight were the ones I really enjoyed seeing win
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 01:41 (five years ago) link
see the above gif for the answer
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 01:46 (five years ago) link
ok lol. I remember liking Amadeus in 1985. I wonder what I would think about it today
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 01:51 (five years ago) link
Alfred's obsession with the biggest, fattest fuck from Amadeus is one of his selling points that I'm here for.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:16 (five years ago) link
I loved seeing the thin-gruel noir of L.A. Confidential and especially the no-homo emo bullshit of Good Will Hunting stand absolutely no chance against Titanic.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:17 (five years ago) link
The worst noir (which L.A. Confidential isn't) is better than the best disaster flick (which Titanic isn't).
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Friday, February 22, 2019 9:16 PM
https://media1.giphy.com/media/2lNJQ6Q3DK7hC/source.gif
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:37 (five years ago) link
lol
someone important to me was thrilled by Titanic, my love for him made me love the film
biggest disappointment was Crash. after Ang Lee won best director I was really hoping that Brokeback Mountain would win. even Jack Nicholson looked dismayed when he announced the winner
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:39 (five years ago) link
Yup.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ConfusedDimpledAlbatross-size_restricted.gif
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:41 (five years ago) link
Ca-poh-tay
― jaymc, Saturday, 23 February 2019 02:45 (five years ago) link
At the very least, I'm happy that Crash's entire legacy, only a decade-and-a-half later, boils down to "Worst Best Picture Winner Ever."
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:10 (five years ago) link
I liked Phillip Seymour Hoffman's humility in his acceptance speech, that he recognized it was the role of his life and was grateful he got the opportunity
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:18 (five years ago) link
ok watching the clip again it doesn't seem at all like I remembered it, not that great, why can't these people keep it short?
ultimately I was disappointed that Heath Ledger didn't win for one of my favorite performances ever
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:29 (five years ago) link
Good Will Hunting was much more frightening than The Silence of the Lambs
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:35 (five years ago) link
That's not Elizabeth Berridge! BANG
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:37 (five years ago) link
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, February 22, 2019 7:35 PM (three minutes ago)
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:39 (five years ago) link
certainly Matt Damon and Robin Williams seemed more like cannibals than that squishy little Welshman
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:44 (five years ago) link
The best/worst thing I can say about GWH, 20 years later, is that I remember so little of it.
― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:50 (five years ago) link
http://metrograph.com/uploads/films/image-1-1528474415-726x388.jpg
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some mashed potatoes and a nice feckin' Guinness."
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 03:51 (five years ago) link
I just read the new Williams bio, and I believe he throttled Damon so hard in one scene he drew blood. Oscar for that!
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 04:21 (five years ago) link
Well, no, he didnt finish the job
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 04:27 (five years ago) link
Also:
Matt Damon after 2002 >>>>>>> Robin Williams film career
one of the friends I watch films with thinks that Matt Damon is completely personality-free, but in my opinion his Brett Kavanaugh impersonation on SNL disproves that.
I think that distinction goes to Ryan Gosling. As much as I like his musical talent I'm still waiting for him to show us who he is. I know the role called for it to some extent, but he was such a zombie in First Man
― Dan S, Saturday, 23 February 2019 04:38 (five years ago) link
very strange cutoff, Alfred, as the best performance Damon ever gave was in Gerry (2002). Only his Scott Thorson comes close. (I didn't see any of that Bourne shit.)
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 13:42 (five years ago) link
I include Gerry, Morbs. There and in the Bourne films he learned to use his blankness for comic or creepy effect.
― a Stalin Stale Ale for me, please (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 February 2019 14:01 (five years ago) link
Time to drop Stanley Donen into the end of that obit reel and piss off all the Burt Reynolds fans.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 23 February 2019 15:48 (five years ago) link
ah yes, the core audience for stuntman and alligator-wrestling movies from 40 years ago have been clutching their hankies to their faces for six months, waiting breathlessly to see an photo of an old man in a thick salt & pepper wig appear for 0.8 seconds, three hours into a TV show of people they’ve never heard of giving speeches about their children
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:12 (five years ago) link
Damon’s blankness is totally weaponised in The Informant! btw. The entire film is built on his endless layers of affectless cover being peeled away to reveal even greater inscrutability beneath.
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Saturday, 23 February 2019 19:09 (five years ago) link
i'd really like to snog him.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Sunday, 24 February 2019 05:09 (five years ago) link
sic, have u heard Oscar fallout before, cuz that's all true
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 24 February 2019 07:02 (five years ago) link
I guess I'm comfortable with these predictions, and god have mercy on our souls.
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 February 2019 14:35 (five years ago) link
all to be blessedly forgotten by Thursday
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 24 February 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link
Just when will it be Amy Adams's year?!
― piscesx, Sunday, 24 February 2019 16:06 (five years ago) link