Tiresome Oscar bitching
Grossest moments at “most international Oscars ever”:
William Monahan wins best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed. Voiceover: “He adapted it from the Japanese film Infernal Affairs.”*
Will Smith introduces Michael Mann’s montage of great American film moments, that show the greatness and diversity of America. One of the first clips is from The Immigrant, directed by Charlie Chaplin. (Who, hilariously enough, was exiled from America. For decades.)
…I am so over the Oscars. The only best-picture nominee I really liked was Little Miss Sunshine. The other losers were fine, but The Queen? Such a prestige-y Oscar movie. And you know, The Departed was a great time and all, but seriously? The best picture of the year was a pretty long remake? (Again, it was a good remake, a great genre film, I totally liked it better than The Aviator, but of course it came out good, there was such a stacked deck.) In 2006, Children of Men came out. Tristram Shandy came out. Shortbus came out. The Science of Sleep came out. I haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth yet, but you can tell from 30 seconds of the trailer that Del Toro is doing something new. Same with The Fountain, which was flawed, but it was gorgeously flawed, flawed with commitment. These were some exceptional movies. (There were also some great “big” Hollywood movies this year too: The Prestige? Stranger Than Fiction? Anyone? Let’s not even talk about Borat.)
I realize that I just wrote a “the Oscars are out of touch” cliche post. This makes me a curmudgeon, but you know in 20 years they’re going to look back and be like: why didn’t Children of Men win anything? And they will be right.
*Confidential to random commenter who didn’t leave a name or real email address and called me an ignorant American: I know it’s a Hong Kong film. Which is why I pointed out that they called it a Japanese film. Keep up!
7 Responses to “Tiresome Oscar bitching”
Kevan on 26 Feb 2007 at 12:14 pm #
Haven’t seen the Departed, but I’m pretty sure the academy said “we’ve really got to get Scorcese an oscar somehow…” and it was close enough. But yeah, I think having nicholson in it was not just the icing on the cake, but those little edible silver ball things too.
You really need to do your own lists every year, because I doubt I’m the only one who would use it for reference (i.e. like gospel), and we all know that Leonard Maltin is a toolbox.
Pan’s labyrinth was really good. Gloomy, but good. Also, I was delighted catching a movie called “Driving Lessons”, starring Julie Walters, Laura Linney, and Rupert Grint (a.k.a. Ron Weasley). I found it much in the same vein as Little Miss Sunshine, but enjoyed it a bit more (probably because LMS had been overhyped to me).
brenda on 26 Feb 2007 at 11:29 pm #
The Departed isn’t even bad; it’s good, but it’s not like a big original film. It’s a remake; and Nicholson pretty much plays himself (but with more guns). It worked, but you know. Whatever.
I should do a list, but I missed so much stuff this year. I still haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth, for instance, which is apparently pretty key. I also totally missed Driving Lessons, I don’t think it even opened in the Coov. I am curious to see Ron play a character who’s actually interesting.
I saw LMS almost as soon as it came out, before Little Miss Sunshine-mania swept the nation or whatever. I still think it’s bizarre that it won best screenplay, because what made it good was fantastic actors rising above a conventional road movie + indie quirk formula. I am a pretty giant fan of Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carrell, so it would have had to blow pretty hard for me to not like it a lot.
Sara on 27 Feb 2007 at 5:19 am #
But it’s not “most original movie” it’s “best picture of the year”. I think originality is a) overrated and b) like…actually over. I don’t think it’s possible anymore.
Rach on 27 Feb 2007 at 6:39 am #
Getting stupid anonymoyus commenters now eh? You’ve come a looong way, Bren. ;) Hit the big time now!
I feel like I should see this “Departed” thing people keep talking about. Hey, I’ve got time on my hands this week, I should find a torrent…
… OH WAIT MY SISTER STOLE THE WIRELESS ROUTER AND MY PARENTS’ COMPUTER WOULD HAVE A BREAKDOWN AT THE MERE HINT OF A TORRENT PROGRAM GAH.
Rach on 27 Feb 2007 at 6:40 am #
PS. They also have a weird ergonomic keyboard that makes me type things like “anonymoyus” instead of “anonymous.” Sigh.
brenda on 27 Feb 2007 at 10:05 am #
Sara: Totally (both to overrated and over). I didn’t mean it shouldn’t have won because it’s not original. I totally liked it and I’m glad he finally won the award, as he clearly wanted it a lot. But there is a difference between not being original because a) everything’s been done and b) people don’t really want to see something original (I don’t mean that in a snobby way), and taking a hit movie from another country, moving it Boston, changing practically nothing from the story but still having it been almost an HOUR longer (because of exposition, mostly) and tacking on a new ending. I just really don’t think it was the best movie of the year. There was lots of good stuff in it, but it took FOREVER to get to it, there was nothing about Leo’s/Matt Damon’s childhood that I really needed to know to enjoy it.
Rach: It’s definitely worth seeing once you get back to where there’s real computers (with real keyboards, I hate those ergonomic ones). It is two-and-a-half-hours long, but once it gets everything set up, it goes pretty fast.
Sara on 28 Feb 2007 at 5:21 am #
Okay i have to admit I haven’t seen many other “Best films of the year” movies this year i.e. insted i went to see Jackass 2 and the Trailer Park Boys movies in theatres haha.