Well well, what do you know. The best motion picture of the year did NOT go to James Cameron's Avatar. Instead (if you haven't heard already), the Best Motion Picture of the year went to The Hurt Locker. I don't know if I should be happy or sad. Maybe I should begin by making a T-chart.
--I should feel happy because...
Avatar is the big shot, the highest grossing movie of all time, and it's directed by the big shot James Cameron. Knocking off Avatar to let The Hurt Locker win means that the Academy still care more about the art than about the money. Plus Jay thinks Cameron has an ego problem, and after watching Cameron's speech about whether he'd be okay for his ex-wife (Bigelow) to take Best Directing award away from him, I agree with Jay. So letting The Hurt Locker win Best Picture does a good job in teaching Cameron a lesson in humility.
--I should feel sad because...
Once again the Academy has maintained its stand -- action movies do not win Best Picture. As an action movie lover (long live The Dark Knight!!!), this is my biggest beef against the Academy. But I can see how The Hurt Locker was good too, although I can't say I enjoyed Hurt Locker anywhere as much as I did Avatar.
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While I'm at the topic, a couple more thoughts about the results of Oscar:
--Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker
Yes, Hurt Locker was good. But poor, poor Tarantino. He probably had a nice monologue ready for his acceptance speech, but now he won't get a chance to give it.
--Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious
I haven't seen Precious, so I can't judge. But I guess I really should, because District 9 was pretty damn good, especially with its dialogue.
--Best Animated Film: Up
Again, Pixar wins by default. Why do they even have this category if it's just gonna go to Pixar? Up was NOT that good. Talking dogs? One was good enough, do we really need 100 of them? And WTF is up with Carl meeting his childhood hero explorer? Carl is something like 80 years old, shouldn't the explorer be like 100? How does he walk? How can he still be able to hold a sword? I know I'm pretty out of shape, but godddamn, I didn't know I was weaker than an 100 year old man.
Monday, March 08, 2010
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5 comments:
X,
Hurt Locker is an action movie, although less overtly than say Avatar or Transformers.
Okay, so imdb did classify Hurt Locker as an action movie -- I stand corrected.
But you know what I mean. It's not really an action movie. I'd say it's more drama and thriller than action, because the action is not there for the action is there more to enhance the dramatic effects.
Wow X,
You really wrote this post in a hurry didn't you?
They also said that fantasy will never win a Best Picture Oscar and yet LoTR swept the Oscars in its 3rd year.
But I would say any movie that has action merely for action's sake (Transformers) is usually not even deemed a good movie, let alone be worthy of an oscar.
And while Avatar certainly is action-packed, it does have certain depth to it beyond the action. I just don't think it was "deep" enough (result of an rather mediocre/trite screenplay).
@YanJie: I wrote that post when I was procrastinating on homework, just like now.
While I respect the Academy's choice, I still think they're a bit elitist in terms of their choices. I found myself getting kind of bored while watching The Hurt Locker, and I had to keep telling myself that the movie is good and it's worth watching it all the way until the end (and it definitely was).
But still... it really misses on the entertainment value, which is what I really go to the movies for.
That's a pretty lame excuse X.
I would agree with you. I can't even count the number of times I've come close to falling asleep while watching a Oscar winning film.
However, I think the Academy views itself as a promoter of art vs. another advertiser for James Cameron (which he doesn't really need anyways). I know I definitely would not have heard of, let alone watch, a lot of the previously mentioned films if they were not so highly praised by the Academy.
But with Avatar, I think there were too many roadblocks for it to win the Oscar. I remember reading from somewhere that no Best Picture winner has ever won without at least one acting nomination (the Academy is, after all, composed of a majority of actors). LoTR RoK and Slumdog were two of the few exceptions but they were both nominated (and won) for adapted screenplays. I challenge you to find a film that has neither writing nor acting nominations yet manage to win Best Picture.
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