Film Experience Blog: On June 18th, We Begin...

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

On June 18th, We Begin...

a-ha !
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17 comments:

Anonymous said...: It's so sad that between these pictures so much crap has been selected. Crash comes to mind ...; 11:39 AM
Robert said...: I wonder Nathan, what you think of the whole Wings vs Sunrise for true best picture of 27/28 thing.; 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: what film is the worst best picture winner ?; 1:30 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: mariposa ARGH. let's wait until we have to talk about that one. I'm not looking forward to bringing itup again

robert --on that front I go with the standard history which is that WINGS is the true best picture.

nothing against SUNRISE which is wondrous. but i think we should stick with accepted history there.

kent that we will discover.; 1:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Ummm... I wonder if I've missed something lately... what begins?

Oh, and just saw the final episode of Jericho: WOW!!! Would love to catch your thoughts on that series Nat on your next TV discussion!; 1:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Kent - I'd like to hear people's opinions on that subject too.

Among recent winners, personally I'd go with Shakespeare in Love. And it's not just the Spielberg fan in me talking here. I'll take something clumsy and hamfisted like Crash over that inconsequential piece of "prestige" fluff any day.; 3:02 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm still angry about 2001's travesty when AMPAS voters could've chose The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge, or even Gosford Park. Instead, they went their usual en route with A Beautiful Mind. I get so mad thinking about Moulin Rouge's multiple omissions.; 3:36 PM
Anonymous said...: One day, someone has to explain to me what's so terrible about A Beautiful Mind. I mean, I sympathize with fans of Moulin Rouge! or Fellowship of the Ring, of which I know there are plenty around here, but what's wrong with the film itself? It's a touching love story (if overly sentimental one), the storytelling employs mightily original devices for the biopic genre, and it features an electrifying performance by one of the greatest actors alive. Those alone are three reasons that make it a more worthy winner than Academy's three most recent braindead verdicts (I mean most recent before NCFOM).

And Shakespeare in Love as "a prestige fluff"? It's a comedy, it was supposed to be light and playful, so I don't think "fluff" is a failing here. And the "prestige" part was something superimposed by the spin doctors from Miramax; the movie itself is as unpretentious as they come, IMO.

The worst (of the 40ish I've seen) - Rocky. Now, that was an absolutely ridiculous choice on every level. A feel-good, lowest-common-denominator "drama" with predictable content and distinct lack of style. I think the 247 sequels, and Sly's further career in general, is a Karma's way to rub it in for the Academy. :D; 5:18 PM
Nate Tyson said...: June 18th? My birthday? Oh, Nathaniel, you shouldn't have!; 5:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, and I'll second crazycris and ask what do we begin? I understand it has something to do with the Best Picture history, but what? A one-off in-depth article? A bunch of fun top (and bottom) tens? Reader polls? A new weekly series spotlighting on consecutive winners? WHAT? Please drop us a hint! :)

PS. I hope I didn't sound too aggressive in the previous post. Just trying to start a discussion (although, yes, I really love both Shakespeare and Beautiful Mind, rather than only play devil's advocate ;)).; 5:30 PM
Anonymous said...: I think the problem that a I had with A BEAUTIFUL MIND winning wasn't that it was bad, but dear lord were the four other films so much more, I don't know, special. They had a prime moment with some truly amazing nominees, and they went for the most pedistrian of the bunch.

I think that tends to be one of the Academy's biggest problems, they can have awesome nominees but blah eventual winners (though that seems to be changing a bit).

As far as SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE goes, a really lovely film and all and all worthy winner, but not above SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (bookends and all).

Val; 5:40 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: notluke and crazy cris --you didn't miss any other post about this. This is what's called a "teaser" ;)

it's a series on the 'Best Pictures' as you've all guessed; 6:21 PM
Glenn said...: Shakespeare in Love is one of the smartest and best made romantic comedies ever.

If you can't see that behind the glaze of Weinstein hate (even I hate the man, but he cranked out some amazing stuff in his day) then there's not much anybody can say or do, really.

It must be noted though that the studio behind Saving Private Ryan actually spent more money on their Oscar-shilling than Miramax did with Shakespeare.; 3:19 AM
NATHANIEL R said...: i'm with Glenn here if not so emphaticallly. of the nominees THE THIN RED LINE was the strongest but I'd place Shakespeare in Love an easy second.; 8:23 AM
Dame James said...: I'm no fan of Shakespeare in Love, but you have to go farther back to find the absolute worst of the Best Picture winners. The real losers are early 30's crap like Cimarron (in which Oscar really screwed over Chaplin's City Lights by not even nominating him) and Cavalcade (it may have been relevant and different back in its day, but now it's just impossible to warm up to).; 11:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Nat, if you say the worst Best Picture is Crash, I might scream. I understand why you don't approve of it winning, but you liked it when you reviewed it originally.; 1:39 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: i have not even seen all the BEST PICTURE winners so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

and No, even without having seen all of them, Crash is not my least favorite ;); 2:36 PM