We've decided to see all the films that are nominated for best picture. I've already discussed No Country for Old Men and gave it two thumbs and great toes way up. However, my second film, There Will Be Blood doesn't even get a pinky mention.
Personally, I could have taken that script and made a better film. They didn't connect dots or develop conflicts. It was so @ing tedious, and not even static in a good way like My Dinner With Andre. I keep reading that Daniel Day Lewis's perfomance has been cited as the best performance in the history of cinema. NOT!! Don't give me that lame "character study" excuse. When he had worked that for all he could wring out of it, he just started gnawing on the scenery for effect. The evangelist was a watered-down Elmer Gantry. Nothing new, no progress. The cinematography was quite good though.
On a ten point scale, I give No Country for Old Men a 12 and There Will Be Blood a 2.
So today, we took in Atonement. It's not quite in No Country territory, but it's much better than There Will Be Blood. It was a hard watch because I'd read the book. There were no surpises until the last fifteen minutes because it was slavishly loyal to the book until the end, and there lies the rub. El wrongo. The book's ending was vastly superior. I wouldn't have minded it being less loyal to the book throughout, but why change the ending to something less satisfactory? Keira Knightley looked like a bag of bones in the film. She needs to keep to period pieces where she wears a bunch of petticoats. All in all, though, I'd give it an 8.
We're catching Juno next week. I heard it's "quirky", which isn't exactly my cup of tea. I've also heard, "charming," which is the label I might give America Ferrerra in Ugly Betty, but I don't pay to see that. Our final film is Michael Clayton. That's coming out on DVD next week, and we'll probably rent it.
Personally, I've enjoyed the TCM Oscar nominated films that they've been showing on their annual marathon better than most of the stuff I've seen this year. Something that's even more dispiriting is that, except for Juno, the majority of nominated films aren't making much money. Pretty soon, we'll be choosing between Rambo 9 and Porky's 12 since the more moronic the film, the more money it makes.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Academy Awards Marathon
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3 comments:
Oh, dear. Not to play Craig here, but I loved "There Will Be Blood," though I'll also admit to being in the minority that go the ending of "No Country For Old Men."
And I thought "Juno" adorable, but then I'm a big Ellen Page fan. What amazes me is that I've read people condemning it for being too liberal (glorifying an unwed mother) and too conservative (justifying her decision to keep the unwanted baby).
I saw "No Country..." this week and it left me cold. I enjoyed "There Will Be Blood" more, though it went off the rails at the end, and Paul Dano couldn't quite keep up with Daniel Day-Lewis.
I loved "Juno," but then again I'm a Midwesterner by birth so the accents were like a breath of home to me.
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