Thursday, March 03, 2005
Geishas, Cowboys, Singers, Boxers, Miners, Olympians and more...
OK. Much more info up now. All major studios covered for this year's films. Now I need a day or two to think about the actual predictions. Totally silly I know but I like the fortune telling...
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Kate Winslet for Romance & Cigarettes! I predict that she'll be nominated and win.
To all the ESOTSM lovers.
A good idea does not necessarily translate into a good screenplay. And this film’s script is full of flaws. Let’s begin with the supporting characters. They’re not necessary for the story. Mard Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst just distract us from the central story.
I don’t hate this film. I just don’t love it, because it’s a film that could have been a masterpiece but is not. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet have probably their careers’ best performances (well, maybe Carrey was better in Man on the Moon). But Winslet is just extraordinary, and she should’ve won the Oscar. But I think Charlie Kaufman’s script doesn’t go as deep as it should in their relationship… And why? Well, it’s obvious: Kaufman pays too much attention to Dunst, Ruffalo and Wood. That’s his main flaw.
And then there are other flaws in the film. WHAT’S THAT SCORE??? I mean, sometimes, during the film, I thought “what the hell is this music doing in this scene???”, and that’s terrible, because the music must help the image, not make a mess of it… And I hate this score because, without it, the film would be much more enjoyable… You know, Clint Eastwood is a master in choosing the scores for his films, and they only help them… Remember Play Misty for Me and Breezy… In fact, his early work is also great, although few people recognize those films
Michel Gondry and Kaufman have talent, but ESOTSM has many flaws (many good things too, of course). To be a masterpiece is to be perfect, and THE VILLAGE is perfect, with an anthological scene: the meeting of the girl and the policeman. It’s surreal and a work of a master.
Like other recent great films that will be recognized by “the media” only through time (CASINO, THE COMPANY, ELEPHANT, GANGS OF NEW YORK, TRUE CRIME, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL…), THE VILLAGE is admired by those who don’t forget that the masters are not Iñarritu, Gondry, Amenabar, Arcand, Jeunet, Moore and Payne, BUT Ford, Lang, Hitchcock, Renoir, Bresson, Kiarostami, Hawks, Welles, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Visconti, Rossellini, Buñuel, Mann, Scorsese, Eastwood, Leone, Fuller, Murnau, Chabrol…
And, for the HILARY SWANK HATERS: you’re demanding justice from the Academy that has awarded Chicago over Gangs of New York and The Company, The Lord of the Rings over Mystic River, Lost in Translation and Elephant, A Beautiful Mind over Mulholland Drive and Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Shakespeare in Love over The Thin Red Line, American Beauty over Magnolia and Boys don’t Cry, Gladiator over Mission Impossible 2 and Me, Myself and Irene (yeah, these 2 are great great great films, Woo’s and Farrelly’s masterpieces)??????? Braveheart over Casino??? Nicole Kidman over Julianne Moore???
Come on, wake up, guys… The Oscars are not about the deserving people… they’re about marketing above all things… Sometimes great directors are recognized (Clint Eastwood now join the John Ford-Billy Wilder-Coppola club of the awarded geniuses), sometimes not (the Hawks-Scorsese-Hitchcock-Altman… club). Hey, Ozu and Mizoguchi never complained about their snubs
anonymous...
your comment has nothing to do with the original posting but we can respond anyway ;) (and it's nice to see passion in any form (er "passion" not "The Passion")
But you're very very wrong about Eternal Sunshine
anonymous...
your comment has nothing to do with the original posting but we can respond anyway ;) (and it's nice to see passion in any form (er "passion" not "The Passion")
But you're very very wrong about Eternal Sunshine. The Dunst storyline is crucial to the movie serving as it does as counterpoint; another minor view which is commenting on and reflecting and thematically strengthening the whole thing. It's so much more than a twisty romantic comedy as a result.
as for the "masters" comment I totally agree as to which group are the true masters. Except I don't see how that supports The Village ;) I think you'll find a lot of cineastes out there who agree with your list of masters but are firmly NOT in the Village camp.
Hmm. Love Kate Winslet. LOVE Kate Winslet. Loved her in ESOTSM. Think she should have at least 58 Oscars by now. But you know what? I don't think she should have won the Oscar this year. And I think she's been even better many times before (Holy Smoke!, Iris, Sense, Jude, Quills, Hamlet, and Titanic considering some of that atrocious dialogue she managed to sell us!). But I'd really rather wait until it becomes indisputable that she's the best of the year. When it's become too embarrassing that she hasn't received an Oscar yet.
As for ESOTSM? Oh jeez; I feel this confessional coming on now... I've really TRIED with ESOTSM to bump up my "like" to "love". I've watched it 6 times now. Each time I really like bits of it (and "love" the opening 10 mins), but ultimately I find the WHOLE a little cold.
So I'm kinda with some (SOME) of Anonymous's points. (Apart from a couple of those disturbing films they brought up. M:I2? Midnight In The Garden? Oy!)
However, ESOTSM I thought had a masterful screenplay. And you've gotta love that it won ORIGINAL screenplay. Cos damn if I've never seen that plot played out before!
And as for The Village? I thought it had some nice touches, and the score nomination was richly deserved. My main problem was that if William Hurt had picked up the pace with his dialogue a little more, we could all have been out of the cinema 20 minutes earlier and moved on with our lives.
Anyway. What did I come here to say?! Oh yes; liked reading the lowdown on what lies waiting for us in the year ahead. Anything to lift me out of this post-Oscar funk of nothingness. I notice the blockbuster trailers have hit the multiplexes again. Oh, how I long for autumn.
Rob
Nathanial, you're a faggot. Who cares about what YOU have to say? I come to this site to laugh a little at your biased opinions. What you have isn't passion, but an absurd obsessiveness.
i want to murder that person.
d.
whoa... when the fuck did this place turn into Dave Poland's HotBlog? Filled with unnecessary bitching and name-calling and hate-filled rants.
I'd bring up the cliche about if you you dont like don't read it, but you obviously do like it even if you don't understand the concept or opinion pieces, which is generally what Nathaniel's website is. That was... strange. Definitely stranger than the ESOTSM post!
1. Elijah and Kirsten are most definitely necessary (elijah is dating Kate, and Kirsten has the thing at the end)
2. THe score is perfectly wonderful thank you
3. Chicago over GANGS OF NEW YORK? Chicago actually was my fave of that year, but seriously. Gangs of New York?
4. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2, ME MYSELF AND IRENE... THE PLANET OF THE APES?!?!?!
5. I also agree that The Village's score was very nice, and in my own awards I nominated it for Score and Sound Design but I don't even think any of the films most ardent supporters (other than yourself) think it is a perfect masterpiece worthy of Hitchcock or anything.
lastly...
6. Notice how all the directors you claim are being touted as masters are new and a lot of your actual masters are either old, not making movies anymore or dead? Yeah, idon't think anyone's claiming Innuratu or someone like that is a master of all-time cinema but he's definitely one of TODAY's better directors.
I'd argue though that Lynch is indeed a master of cinema no matter what age we're in.
-Glenn
PS; and again, what's with that whole faggot shit. didn't that go out of fashion a couple of years ago?
Back to your original theme of predictions and fortune telling.
I know I will probably be disappointed, but that doesn't stop me from counting the days till Brokeback Mountain.
Ang Lee gets great performances from good actors, but just how good an actor is Jake Gyllenhaal? His performance will be more important to the success of the movie than how uncomfortable the red states are with gay cowboys.
I have seen both Gyllenhaal and Ledger wear their hearts on their sleeve but Ang Lee's specialty is getting actors to hold back, and hold back... and then reveal.
With Brokeback Mountain the physical intimacy comes first... the emotional connection is only revealed later.
That could be worth waiting for.
Scene from the 1st grade happening right now....
Nathaniel: Teacher! Teacher! "Anonymous" keeps pulling my hair. Make him stop.
Teacher: Try to be patient Nat, that just means he likes you.
Nathaniel: Ewww GROSS!!!
I'm kind of hurt that no one responded to my Romance & Cigarettes prediction and instead we got an argument full of Eternal Sunshine bashing and gay bashing. Seriously. Whatup.
(kidding. sort of)
I agree though that Kate didn't really need to win this year. I LOVE her too, but I don't think it was her absolute best work. Bening and Staunton on the other hand gave career defining perfs that they will probably never top.
This is off-topic, but...
I just got back from seeing "Being Julia", and all I can think is: "What the fuck was everyone thinking?!" Bening was brilliant, maybe even better. When it was over, I heard a whole bunch of people around me all saying the same thing: "Why didn't she win?" My hat goes off to Ms. Bening.
She didn't win because she didn't start at humble beginnings, become a champ and then die. or... something like that.
And, I definitely am anticipating Romance & Cigarettes. I'm not sure how much Oscar play it could get but Globe support could definitely be there! However I have a belief that whatever Kate Winslet is nominated for next, she will win for. 5/5 losses in acting doesn't happen often. And i mean 5 out fof the FIRST 5 nominations. People who get nominated heaps usually win one early, then go for ages without getting another and then get one later in life (Katherine, Meryl, Jack). And then there's the weird anomole of Hilary Swank...
-Glenn
Bening was indeed great.
You know what? I'm really starting to get obsessed with Kate Winslet. She's so amazing. How many other actors could you see jumping around from little Heavenly Creatures to the biggest film of all time Titanic to out there Holy Smoke! to playing real-life writer Iris in Iris to going contemporary in ESOTSM? Absolutely no one. She's so amazing. She really should have won for Iris considering she was already overdue at that point (from Titanic to Holy Smoke! and no oscar? what?) and was terrific in it. But she lost to Jennifer Connelly... sigh. I can't believe Kate's best performances were in years where the oscars were won by Helen Hunt (97), Hilary Swank (99), Jennifer Connelly (01), and Hilary Swank (04). Arg.
May the Force be with your favorite punchbag Steven Spielberg.
Nathanial, I'm looking at the picture of you... is that your boyfriend? Who is the bitch in the relationship?
Anonymous, I'm the one that's gray and fuzzy. Duh!
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