Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
September 2002
September 2002
Everything was going fine in Oscars until Crash won the best picture. Boo academy. How can the best picture award go to Crash and directing to Ang Lee? I don't know even remember when was the last time awards were split up like this - Million dollar baby, Return of the King, Beautiful Mind, American Beauty all of these movies got best directing as well as best picture awards.
A crappy movie gets the best picture. damn!!! . Eddie - will you change your rating to 1.:)
--Ranjan
A crappy movie gets the best picture. damn!!! . Eddie - will you change your rating to 1.:)
--Ranjan
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
October 2004
October 2004
I'm delighted. I take great pleasure in poking fun at the Academy's predictable middlebrow tastes, and this year's win only provides more grist for my mill. I was hoping "Brokeback" would win both for merit, and because I wanted to hear the religious right shrieking about the "gay agenda." "Crash's" win will, however, provide another entertaining spectacle: the gnashing of teeth and righteous indignation of all the critics (and there were many, including me) who despised the film.
To all my fellow-"Crash" haters, I can only say, "Relax. It's not like somebody important gave the film a pat on the head; it's just the Academy. And they can't help it; they just don't know any better."
To all my fellow-"Crash" haters, I can only say, "Relax. It's not like somebody important gave the film a pat on the head; it's just the Academy. And they can't help it; they just don't know any better."
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
- EXTERNAL LINK -
By the way, the AMPAS likes to split Picture and Director more and more. This happened in 2000 when "Gladiator" won Picture but Soderbergh won Director for "Traffic". Poor Ang Lee--everyone thought that he was gonna win for directing "Crouching Tiger" that year.
Also, "Chicago" took Picture while Polanski took Director.
I want to see "Mission: Impossible 3" with Philip Seymour Hoffman talking the way he did in "Capote".
By the way, the AMPAS likes to split Picture and Director more and more. This happened in 2000 when "Gladiator" won Picture but Soderbergh won Director for "Traffic". Poor Ang Lee--everyone thought that he was gonna win for directing "Crouching Tiger" that year.
Also, "Chicago" took Picture while Polanski took Director.
I want to see "Mission: Impossible 3" with Philip Seymour Hoffman talking the way he did in "Capote".
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
March 2006
March 2006
"A crappy movie gets the best picture. damn!!!"
I seriously disagree, I also have seen all five films, and have felt since the nominations that although I expected Brokeback to win, Crash was the far better movie.
Brokeback Mountain was a beautiful, emotional and affecting film, but to the average person, it was nothing more than a very nice romance movie with gay cowboys instead of the usual formula. Or, to put it simply, it didn't seem like much more than two guys hitching it up together in the mountains. It didn't have an enormous amount that the average person or voter could identify with.
Crash on the other head deals with issues that we all face from time to time and some of us evey day. It is evey bit as emotional and powerful as Brokeback, and still is a vital, fresh social commentary on a highly important modern issue. The reason why things were made so blatant in the film, I believe, is because how (or why) would you want to deal with a topic like racism, in a subtle manner? The ensemble cast was brilliant (SAG was deserved) and the direction was only a tiny notch below Ang Lee.
On balance, Crash was better than BBM, and if its Oscar hopes were seriously boosted by its last minutes screenings, then that is merely good marketing by the Crash producers, nothing more. For a movie that people claimed arrived in theatres "too early" to make in indelible mark at the oscars, well, it seems that the academy thought otherwise. Who woulda thought, Ebert gets it right!
I seriously disagree, I also have seen all five films, and have felt since the nominations that although I expected Brokeback to win, Crash was the far better movie.
Brokeback Mountain was a beautiful, emotional and affecting film, but to the average person, it was nothing more than a very nice romance movie with gay cowboys instead of the usual formula. Or, to put it simply, it didn't seem like much more than two guys hitching it up together in the mountains. It didn't have an enormous amount that the average person or voter could identify with.
Crash on the other head deals with issues that we all face from time to time and some of us evey day. It is evey bit as emotional and powerful as Brokeback, and still is a vital, fresh social commentary on a highly important modern issue. The reason why things were made so blatant in the film, I believe, is because how (or why) would you want to deal with a topic like racism, in a subtle manner? The ensemble cast was brilliant (SAG was deserved) and the direction was only a tiny notch below Ang Lee.
On balance, Crash was better than BBM, and if its Oscar hopes were seriously boosted by its last minutes screenings, then that is merely good marketing by the Crash producers, nothing more. For a movie that people claimed arrived in theatres "too early" to make in indelible mark at the oscars, well, it seems that the academy thought otherwise. Who woulda thought, Ebert gets it right!
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
unfortunately, race relations are not as simple as "crash" makes them seem to be. also, the acting was laughable, and the opening monologue was one of the worst speeches i've ever heard in my life.
"we're so disconnected that we have to get into car accidents." yes, that's exactly why we run our cars into other people's cars.
"we're so disconnected that we have to get into car accidents." yes, that's exactly why we run our cars into other people's cars.
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Member since:
December 2002
December 2002
This is very big upset .
I thought "Brokeback" was a lock.
Everything else was more or less predictable except the Best Picture.
I thought "Brokeback" was a lock.
Everything else was more or less predictable except the Best Picture.
Monday, March 6, 2006
Member since:
December 2004
December 2004
Their "In Memoriam" segment didn't even feature the recent late, great Don Knotts!
Surely they would have made the effort and taken the time to fit HIM in,
...as well as Dennis Weaver and Darrin McGavin....
The times we live in!
Surely they would have made the effort and taken the time to fit HIM in,
...as well as Dennis Weaver and Darrin McGavin....
The times we live in!
Monday, March 6, 2006
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
Haggis Delenda Est
Monday, March 6, 2006
Member since:
October 2004
October 2004
Tim,
None of this has anything to do with whether or not Crash "deserved" its Best Picture; it only argues to the point of how the film was received by critics, and nothing more.
There were indeed many critic who disliked Crash - as your own numbers at Rotten Tomatoes point out. "Crash" is one of the lowest rated (by the tomato meter) films to win a Best Picture, more in line with picks such as Beautiful Mind and Gladiator, neither of which were strongly embraced by critics. As comparison points: Million Dollar Baby - 91%, LOTR: Return of the King - 95%, Chicago - 87%, A Beautiful Mind - 78%, Gladiator - 77%, American Beauty - 89%, Shakespeare in Love - 94%, Titanic - 86%, etc.
"Crash" was easily the most hotly debated of all the films this year, as witnessed by Ebert's constant dueling with the critics who were attacking the film. More to the point, only a handful of critics strongly supported the film: in the Village Voice poll of 103 critics, only 4 voted the film in their Top 10. The quotes included about the film in that poll were typical of the significant opposition to the film:
Crash offers a lesson on racism for those viewers who don't have to think about it, namely, white people. CYNTHIA FUCHS
So Paul Haggis gets his car jacked, and somehow this qualifies him to make the definitive drama on race? Arrogant and schematic, Crash's ensemble artifice was enough to make Grand Canyon look like Shadows. BEN KENIGSBERG
An overwrought exercise in after-school-special morality, Crash creates hollow statements about race without a shred of humanity. Resolutions come fast and furious—sprain your ankle, heal your prejudices, hug your Hispanic maid—letting audiences feel better about their own seemingly redeemable racism. ANTHONY KAUFMAN
Also recent articles by MSNBC critic Eric Lundegaard ("The ABC Oscars: Anything But Crash"), Jim Emerson and others continue the argument against the film over the weekend. Salon.com critic Andrew O'Hehir's recent comments were a bit more balanced:
Look, it's not like "Crash" is a war crime or something. A lot of the acting is quite good, and the honorable intentions of this achingly earnest sermon ("Racial Pain: Los Angeles, America, the World?") are obvious.... [But...] No one in this movie ever talks like an identifiable human being... This entire film is a spinach-flavored schematic, going from one overloaded symbolic encounter between angst-ridden people of different ethnicities to another.... You could say that "Crash" is aware of the ironies and contradictions of race in America, but that's literally the only thing it's aware of. It's grasping you by the lapels, like that uncle you generally avoid at family gatherings, and screaming into your face: "My God! The contradictions!"
It is fair to say that the critics who did not like the film truly despised it, and one could argue that this at least suggests the film has something going for it: not too many people threw up their shoulders and said "Eh, I don't care either way."
None of this has anything to do with whether or not Crash "deserved" its Best Picture; it only argues to the point of how the film was received by critics, and nothing more.
There were indeed many critic who disliked Crash - as your own numbers at Rotten Tomatoes point out. "Crash" is one of the lowest rated (by the tomato meter) films to win a Best Picture, more in line with picks such as Beautiful Mind and Gladiator, neither of which were strongly embraced by critics. As comparison points: Million Dollar Baby - 91%, LOTR: Return of the King - 95%, Chicago - 87%, A Beautiful Mind - 78%, Gladiator - 77%, American Beauty - 89%, Shakespeare in Love - 94%, Titanic - 86%, etc.
"Crash" was easily the most hotly debated of all the films this year, as witnessed by Ebert's constant dueling with the critics who were attacking the film. More to the point, only a handful of critics strongly supported the film: in the Village Voice poll of 103 critics, only 4 voted the film in their Top 10. The quotes included about the film in that poll were typical of the significant opposition to the film:
Crash offers a lesson on racism for those viewers who don't have to think about it, namely, white people. CYNTHIA FUCHS
So Paul Haggis gets his car jacked, and somehow this qualifies him to make the definitive drama on race? Arrogant and schematic, Crash's ensemble artifice was enough to make Grand Canyon look like Shadows. BEN KENIGSBERG
An overwrought exercise in after-school-special morality, Crash creates hollow statements about race without a shred of humanity. Resolutions come fast and furious—sprain your ankle, heal your prejudices, hug your Hispanic maid—letting audiences feel better about their own seemingly redeemable racism. ANTHONY KAUFMAN
Also recent articles by MSNBC critic Eric Lundegaard ("The ABC Oscars: Anything But Crash"), Jim Emerson and others continue the argument against the film over the weekend. Salon.com critic Andrew O'Hehir's recent comments were a bit more balanced:
Look, it's not like "Crash" is a war crime or something. A lot of the acting is quite good, and the honorable intentions of this achingly earnest sermon ("Racial Pain: Los Angeles, America, the World?") are obvious.... [But...] No one in this movie ever talks like an identifiable human being... This entire film is a spinach-flavored schematic, going from one overloaded symbolic encounter between angst-ridden people of different ethnicities to another.... You could say that "Crash" is aware of the ironies and contradictions of race in America, but that's literally the only thing it's aware of. It's grasping you by the lapels, like that uncle you generally avoid at family gatherings, and screaming into your face: "My God! The contradictions!"
It is fair to say that the critics who did not like the film truly despised it, and one could argue that this at least suggests the film has something going for it: not too many people threw up their shoulders and said "Eh, I don't care either way."
Monday, March 6, 2006
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
I’m not sure that I would go as far as to mention “many” critics didn’t like “Crash”. According to RT, only 23% of the critics didn’t like it; that’s about two out of every ten critics out there. With that in mind, I would have to say a “few” critics didn’t care for “Crash” as 77% of the others that did. So was “Crash” truly critically hated? I think not.
Comparing the theme importance next to “Brokeback Mountain” is also a ludicrous argument. Since when are racial issues not an important topic? And between both films, it isn’t as though no film maker has ever NOT approached the gay or racial issue. Granted, most people might see two cowboys as being gay a little odd and it’s possible that Lee was going for a bit of a shock factor, and I find this just doesn’t work for me. If promoting the acceptance of the gay culture in a non-gay world was the message, then yawn and pass me a cup of coffee so I can wake up. I don’t find it interesting because I can barely relate with it. “Crash”, however, deals with issues I can relate with because all of us have been faced with them at some point in our lives.
As far as the nominated films go, I’m pretty much in agreement with John’s picks this year. I, too, was far more fond of “The Constant Gardener” and found “Good Night & Good Luck” a far better film than Brokeback or Crash. I would not say the acting in “Crash” was bad but I would admit the plots were way too contrived for their own good. Nevertheless, I don’t feel it was an awful movie nor do I feel it was one of the greats. The film worked for many people, and it apparently worked for Hollywood and there’s nothing anyone can do about it but gripe. So, with that in mind, what’s the point?
Timmy:D;)
Comparing the theme importance next to “Brokeback Mountain” is also a ludicrous argument. Since when are racial issues not an important topic? And between both films, it isn’t as though no film maker has ever NOT approached the gay or racial issue. Granted, most people might see two cowboys as being gay a little odd and it’s possible that Lee was going for a bit of a shock factor, and I find this just doesn’t work for me. If promoting the acceptance of the gay culture in a non-gay world was the message, then yawn and pass me a cup of coffee so I can wake up. I don’t find it interesting because I can barely relate with it. “Crash”, however, deals with issues I can relate with because all of us have been faced with them at some point in our lives.
As far as the nominated films go, I’m pretty much in agreement with John’s picks this year. I, too, was far more fond of “The Constant Gardener” and found “Good Night & Good Luck” a far better film than Brokeback or Crash. I would not say the acting in “Crash” was bad but I would admit the plots were way too contrived for their own good. Nevertheless, I don’t feel it was an awful movie nor do I feel it was one of the greats. The film worked for many people, and it apparently worked for Hollywood and there’s nothing anyone can do about it but gripe. So, with that in mind, what’s the point?
Timmy:D;)
