The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

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Mr Sausage
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#376 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Nov 28, 2013 5:52 pm

knives wrote:I don't think being formalist necessarily makes one artificial let alone in terms of a worldview. For example I was just talking with a friend the other day about the reality for Eyes Wide Shut and how honestly it portrays the way that secular living makes neurotic a lot of Jews and how that is probably (accidentally) reflective of Kubrick's own attempts to leave his culture behind. Also unless I'm mistaken wasn't much of A Clockwork Orange shot on real locations dressed up to look futuristic?
Formalism is typically on the other end of the scale from naturalism, so, yeah, I'd say it does. I also don't know what "in terms of world-view" means. I don't know what Kubrick's world view is or what it has to do with his filmmaking style, which generally favours artifice and stylistic extremes.

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knives
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#377 Post by knives » Thu Nov 28, 2013 5:57 pm

Mr Sausage wrote:
knives wrote:I don't think being formalist necessarily makes one artificial let alone in terms of a worldview. For example I was just talking with a friend the other day about the reality for Eyes Wide Shut and how honestly it portrays the way that secular living makes neurotic a lot of Jews and how that is probably (accidentally) reflective of Kubrick's own attempts to leave his culture behind. Also unless I'm mistaken wasn't much of A Clockwork Orange shot on real locations dressed up to look futuristic?
Formalism is typically on the other end of the scale from naturalism, so, yeah, I'd say it does. I also don't know what "in terms of world-view" means. I don't know what Kubrick's world view is or what it has to do with his filmmaking style, which generally favours artifice and stylistic extremes.
Zedz explicitly used the term worldview and that's what I have been talking about. Like I said in terms of objective reality Kubrick definitely isn't doing Italian neo-realism and is a formalist, but in terms of how it represents the experience lived I see no artifice beyond what the form (narrative film) demands.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#378 Post by swo17 » Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:03 pm

domino harvey wrote:A Serious Man So the Academy increases their ballot loads to ten films, ostensibly to not repeat another embarrassment like 2008's nominations, and then things like this slip in instead of the blockbusters pundits had been anticipating. You do have to hand it to the Coens though: they make a movie everyone, even their detractors, loves, and then turn around and make Burn After Reading and this, two of their worst, most Coen-y films ever.
I don't care if you like the film or not, but this isn't a very fair dismissal for the forum's consensus favorite American film of the year.

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zedz
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#379 Post by zedz » Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:54 pm

knives wrote:Zedz explicitly used the term worldview and that's what I have been talking about.
My usage is pretty straightforward: the worlds that Kubrick creates in his films, in terms of the way they look and the way the characters that inhabit them behave, are not naturalistic, and they're non-naturalistic in ways that are consistent across a wide range of genres (science fiction, costume drama, horror movie, war film, erotic thriller), so it seems perfectly fair to attribute that consistency to the director, and thus ascribe that particular worldview to him. And I claim that it's both highly artificial (i.e. non-naturalistic) and highly constrained (in that it's very clearly defined and pervasive throughout and across the films - it's not as if the films are full of scenes that escape Kubrick's style, or he made other films in distinctively different styles).

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#380 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:58 pm

knives wrote:Zedz explicitly used the term worldview and that's what I have been talking about. Like I said in terms of objective reality Kubrick definitely isn't doing Italian neo-realism and is a formalist, but in terms of how it represents the experience lived I see no artifice beyond what the form (narrative film) demands.
If Kubrick's films are his way of viewing the world, then I suppose yes, his 'world-view' is artificial and constrained, as zedz said. I don't think that means Kubrick had a fake conception of the world or wasn't communicating truths about it, which is how you seemed to've taken it. But it's undeniable Kubrick takes the world and imbues it with his own large personality, so that the viewer is seeing the world through Kubrick's own highly individual perceptions. That or he only takes the bits of the world that are already Kubrickian. Either way, we're not strictly seeing the world as any other human being would see it, and therin lies the artifice. These seem to me pretty neutral, non-judgemental observations.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#381 Post by zedz » Thu Nov 28, 2013 7:00 pm

Oh and kudos to domino for completing a project that I could never bear to commence. It's been really interesting and entertaining following your progress, and though we rarely share likes, we can often be united in our loathings. Your takes on Moulin Rouge! and Avatar summed up my response to a T, so we can stand on the barricades together against them, at least.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#382 Post by domino harvey » Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:29 am

Thanks! I knew if I stopped I might not ever pick it back up again, so a little over a month ago I literally forced myself to plow through all of the remaining titles without any detours into non-Best Picture titles (unless it was for extra credit). Luckily, as evidenced by my postings, I did see some really good flicks along the way and increased my filmic literacy by finally seeing some high profile films as well... but it's nice to have freedom again. I do feel a bit like Morgan Freeman at the end of the Shawkshank Redemption though: someone tell me what to watch, too much freedom too soon!

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#383 Post by knives » Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:22 am

zedz wrote:
knives wrote:Zedz explicitly used the term worldview and that's what I have been talking about.
My usage is pretty straightforward: the worlds that Kubrick creates in his films, in terms of the way they look and the way the characters that inhabit them behave, are not naturalistic, and they're non-naturalistic in ways that are consistent across a wide range of genres (science fiction, costume drama, horror movie, war film, erotic thriller), so it seems perfectly fair to attribute that consistency to the director, and thus ascribe that particular worldview to him. And I claim that it's both highly artificial (i.e. non-naturalistic) and highly constrained (in that it's very clearly defined and pervasive throughout and across the films - it's not as if the films are full of scenes that escape Kubrick's style, or he made other films in distinctively different styles).
I hope I don't appear contrarian, but I find his character interactions very natural if not in the naturalistic style of film making. I don't, for instance, believe there are actually hoodlums dressed like that getting those specific treatments, but the way that these characters interact and the behaviors they aggress are absolutely true and real. I think Sausage is right that I'm taking artificial in a different way (basically a false view leaning towards fantasy) than you are meaning. For me Kubrick is as real world as Kafka or Rocha to give an idea of what I'm saying.

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thirtyframesasecond
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#384 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Fri Nov 29, 2013 6:25 am

Not even sure I could do a five good Best Picture winning films since 1969. The Artist I do love. I quite like Amadeus even though it's stuck in that 80s run of rewarding overlong worthiness. There's loads I've wilfully never seen (many of the 80s ones). Some are downright bad/baffling in my opinion. And then you get the stuff that didn't. Well done domino, I doubt anyone envies you.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#385 Post by bamwc2 » Fri Nov 29, 2013 10:13 am

domino harvey wrote:Moulin Rouge! An obscenity against musicals, against cinema, and against the superior Best Picture nominee from 49 years earlier that will forever be besmirched by sharing a title (sans punctuation). Hyper garbage that assaults the viewer with its florid re-appropriations of modern pop standards in service of the empty pleasure of recognition and nothing more. This is soulless anti-art.
Hallelujah! This is on my all time worst list for all of the reasons you mentioned. I'm shocked to see that it didn't make your ten worst nominees list given the thorough drubbing you've given it here. I had actually forgotten what a lousy year 2001 was for nominees. Three of the films (A Beautiful Mind, Moulin Rouge!, and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings) were absolute stinkers. Of these the last had a few decent moments, but the overly broad shire "humor" scenes ruined it for me. The other two nominees were just okay at best.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#386 Post by domino harvey » Fri Nov 29, 2013 10:30 am

thirtyframesasecond wrote:Not even sure I could do a five good Best Picture winning films since 1969.
It was a lot harder than it was in the first half! I think Gandhi was the only other possibility, though I like a lot of other winners (Shakespeare in Love, Titanic, Midnight Cowboy, Argo, Terms of Endearment, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, probably some others)

And bamwc2, it just missed the cut (so did A Serious Man, but don't tell swo!) but trust me, it's bubbling under the surface. I actually saw Moulin Rouge! in theaters days after I graduated high school and my date loved it-- talk about a harsh introduction to the horrors of the real world! Where's that afterschool special? The World Is a Cruel, Dark Place: The Moulin Rouge! Story

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#387 Post by bamwc2 » Fri Nov 29, 2013 11:04 am

Ah, cool. Thanks for all of the hard work, Domino! It's made for some entertaining reading while I've been sidelined with class preparations and other writings this semester. Although I think that my opinions clashed with yours more than they converged (and there are still dozens of nominees and winners that I've yet to see), I've thoroughly enjoyed each and every entry that you've put up.

P.S. I do hope to get around to a large 70s update soon, but I may have to wait for the semester to end...

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#388 Post by knives » Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:14 am

1980
Coal Miner's Daughter
Damn tough to talk about this one. Spacek earns her oscar with the rest of the performances following suite and the music is enjoyable, but beyond that it is a perfectly okay biopic. I do appreciate, though, that the film had no non-diegetic score which probably goes back to Apted's documentary background.

The Elephant Man
Say what you want about the film's overall quality, but between Morris' score and Francis' lens this is a damned enjoyable film to experience. This is actually my first time seeing this since I was ten or so and I came in expecting most of Lynch's qualities to be tempered into a mostly anonymous work, but even after the opening credits and before the star child close the film has a distinctly Lynchian appearance and way of communicating information that goes beyond the oscar ready script. So while this isn't as ballsy a choice as Muholland Dr. would be a few years later it's still very impressive to be nominated. The whole thing is such a slow dance trying to through light more than set transport us to the period. The whole enterprise gives the sense that the film must be period, not because of the story, but because this is the only world where such a visual experience existed. Lynch and Francis drown us in a sea of black when needed, but for the most part use expertly the greys present as the primary expression not entirely unlike the Quays in Institute Benjameta (though the Quays take it further). Yes, the story is perfectly well crafted hitting the emotional bits as needed and the acting uniformly great, but that, especially this year, isn't particularly impressive on its own. The addition of this very special set of collaborators is what manages to push it over the edge.

Ordinary People
Damn, had this been a little less ugly to watch this would easily be my top pic. It's not the most ambitious film of the lot, but as a small scale character study that actually portrays a psychiatrist in a positive light and the one needing therapy as its title descriptor it's pretty damn impressive. Hutton is such an impressively multifaceted character that within just a couple of scenes I felt as if I had known him forever. I place a lot of the film's success on Sargent's script which is where the real authorship seems situated (I can't emphasize enough how ugly the film is), but without Hutton giving such a full performance I could see how easily the seams could come apart.

Every moment is such a winner that it makes the ones without him seem really barren. Which I guess leads me to Mary Tyler Moore. I don't know how much of this is her and how much is the character, but in a film that feels so absolutely real she is a big hairy wart. I get that the film feels obliged to have a conflict beyond the thematic, but if a tension is going to be played between her and the son there has to be a better way to pull it off. Just too damned actorly. As for Sutherland, he's mostly wallpaper, but even in that sort of role an actor like him is going to make a great impact so Redford deserves a pat on the back for that bit of casting. That said his big scene with Hirsch is a perfect example how to write and act a big monologue scene.

Of all the positives to the film though I want to emphasize how boring these people are with problems so typical of people their class that it's easy to view them without this elephant in the room they obsess over. Just looking at the subplot with Karen it has very little to do with the big plot and could be attached to pretty much any coming of age drama, but it gains a special importance for how it affects the main plot to becoming usual too. If the winners this decade are more like this and less like Rain Man this should go down significantly easier than I expected.

Raging Bull
You've got to give the academy some credit for nominating two black and white films this year at any rate. Including that I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said to the point of being cliched already whether good or bad. Sure DeNiro gives a great performance, but the weight gain stunt is just a case of more acting rather than better acting. The story's excellently told, but it is already an old game for Scorsese (and Schrader) even by this point. The one consistently and uniquely superior point at least in terms of Scorsese's career is the effective cinematography, but whether amongst this lot or in his career it again doesn't express something that hasn't been done better already. The movie overall is pretty excellent, but being treated as one of the best ever as it usually is is surprising and I say that with the film being a seminal one for my introduction to film. It's a film that is great at first glance, but is never better than that initial meeting.

Tess
I am not a fan of the source novel, but it certainly could be adapted to an excellent film given that the medium by necessity would take away a few of Hardy's affectations. So consider me surprised that I most liked the film for how it tried to be as literal with those affectations as it could be. Stuff like the long shot of the carriage of the way the golden hues seem to eat away at the green are utterly marvelous making it just one of the most beautiful films of the year. The film's not perfect though with a lot of the attempts at setting falling flat and a meandering approach to the plot. I love Kinski, but her accent is weird and she remains too glamorous throughout the film as if dirt is deflected from her. The film also remains fairly lightweight even though it treats itself very seriously being too self conscious as a classic literary adaptation.

My Vote: The Elephant Man

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#389 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:48 am

"Overrated" might be too harsh, but I never got how special Raging Bull is. I watched it once and thought it was okay, but nothing that really changed my perception of the medium. My top three Scorsese films are The Color Of Money, The Departed and The Last Waltz. And I wasn't too crazy about Taxi Driver when I finally saw it earlier this year. So maybe it's just me.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#390 Post by dustybooks » Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:17 am

Raging Bull just seems almost like an exercise in futility to me. I find it difficult to be interested in a character who strikes me as so empty and boorish as La Motta, but part of that is I have a generalized problem with sports movies. There's no doubt it's beautifully made but I have no patience for watching a manchild scream at people for two hours (aware though I am that a critique of masculinity is the point).

I have a much easier time understanding why Taxi Driver is so celebrated, but it's still not particularly to my taste. I have yet to see the Scorsese film that makes me "get it," so to speak.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#391 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:50 pm

There is a great story on the Radio On disc that their black and white production was given an all-stops-out processing because the UK labs knew that The Elephant Man was coming up and wanted a film to demonstrate that they could still process black and white film to the required standard!

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#392 Post by oh yeah » Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:34 pm

I've got to say I find it odd that "enjoyable" should be the adjective you use for The Elephant Man... I realize I'm pretty alone here, but I've always found that picture un-enjoyable in the extreme, just such a depressing slog to sit through. There's a lot to appreciate about it, mostly in the technical aspects, but it's something I otherwise just have no use for; it's too manipulative to really move me, but at the same time is so insistently heartstring-pulling and emotional that it just grates. For my money, Lynch made one really terrific and genuinely moving film rated under PG-13, and that film is The Straight Story. It's nicely restrained and quiet, whereas Elephant Man just bombards the viewer with so much sentiment. I dunno... just my extremely unpopular personal opinion. Coincidentally, I also feel similarly about Raging Bull, both these very depressing, almost one-dimensional films in their uncompromisingly bleak view of their protagonists and/or milieu.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#393 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:21 am

dustybooks wrote:Raging Bull just seems almost like an exercise in futility to me. I find it difficult to be interested in a character who strikes me as so empty and boorish as La Motta, but part of that is I have a generalized problem with sports movies. There's no doubt it's beautifully made but I have no patience for watching a manchild scream at people for two hours (aware though I am that a critique of masculinity is the point).

I have a much easier time understanding why Taxi Driver is so celebrated, but it's still not particularly to my taste. I have yet to see the Scorsese film that makes me "get it," so to speak.
I love sports movies (and documentaries) much more than the sports themselves. What I grant Raging Bull is that it is entirely different from the Rocky series in every possible way apart from boxing, as I'm pretty sure every other boxing movie to come out since 1976 has somehow stood in Stallone's shadow. I'm more with you on La Motta. Martin's made a career out of making unlikable people sympathetic, but I didn't feel it here like I would have in Goodfellas during the helicopter sequence. Somehow despite seeing this guy be as equally boorish and abusive, I can feel the mounting paranoia he's going through in that crucial period of the movie.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#394 Post by knives » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:18 pm

1981
Atlantic City
This could have really easily gone for a Marty esque simplicity with regards to the two leads as sad sacks who come to life upon falling in love (or thereabouts), but Malle really invites the characters for more complexity then that sometimes being real shits and having a lot of concerns beyond that tag. Actually that is probably wrong phrasing as the characters are so invested in the present that 'beyond' is not something they have the time to consider. I also really appreciate how the film is shot. It's not particularly advanced style, but the lighting gives a nakedness that prevents the film from being romantic either through too much beauty or too much misery.

Chariots of Fire
The film's a decent enough bore that I'm not engaged enough to act in hyperbole either way about it. It's not bad, but isn't particularly good either with the only element of the film catching my attention being the very out of place, very '80s score which trumpets up every once in a while. The movie doesn't even have the conviction to follow through on its various plot elements like the whole religion angle which never really comes together in a way that amounts to more then a stubbed toe (but my is it a serious and austere stubbed toe).

Instead I'll ponder why in the '80s did all of these very 'serious' films of sheer monocle quality randomly make characters Jewish in such a specific way. I suppose here has historical context, but all the same they seem to focus on Abrahams so much versus another runner to make a complete opposite for the lead which kind of makes the focusing on Abrahams thing reek of anti-semitism, but I suspect that it is them just being incredibly lazy. As to the 'whole '80s' thing I'm thinking also of, for example, Driving Miss Daisy. In really all of the cases the Jewishness is a totally informed trait that people won't shut up about and serves to be a lesson to the audience in racism. I fully and completely believe this goes down to a deeper racism on the part of the filmmakers of the era in a desperate effort to ignore black people. After all talking about Jews (and here the bonus of Arabs who aren't too Arab as played by Ian Holm) leaves one to play kid gloves on the topic without actually having to show (or more likely hire) multiple people of colour. It shows a lack of engagement with the given details of the characters (a problem Chariots has on the whole) and a generalized cowardice.

On Golden Pond
Beyond realizing that Fonda was going to die without an oscar I don't understand what this does to get recognized by anyone. It has the juvenile humour of the lamest kids films mixed with the sentimentality of some Nicholas Sparks trash. In either case those two qualities are just wretched, but together they're so nonsensical and off putting that the film has to be dull as drying paint not to offend. They guy playing the son-in-law though manages to breed something resembling a human though.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
This was a great surprise after the bad taste of ET. As a kid this bored me nearly as much and I suspect I only watched it in full because my grandmother loved it so much. My god was I a stupid kid since this one is such a perfect distillation of everything fun about action cinema like a less colourful Kill Bill. About 90% of this is coasting on great personalities expressed through fun actors. Just seeing Karen Allen shitfaced or Harrison Ford annoyed is enough to make the bits that don't feature punching enjoyable in a way that, say, Mark Hamil in Star Wars isn't.

Reds
This is exactly why epic, let alone epic romance, has mutated into such a pejorative which is very unfortunate since the baseline for the story is fairly compelling, actors great (loved Mr. Feeny cameo), and I even like Beatty's other films. Unfortunately the script functions like a fairly uncreative news report to the event. That's not bad in itself, but that Beatty backgrounds it to some very dull romance of the ages nonsense propels the film to mediocrity finally hitting there when the one unique element, the interviews, is dropped. What starts as a near documentary Watkins exercise whimpers to an end as some sub-Lean shouting match.

My Vote: Atlantic City

1982
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Given that my insensitivity to popular films haven't been best phrased lately I'll keep this short. Before and after this film this thing has been done better and with a far less creepy looking fantasy element. What lames it most of all though is that Close Encounters hit all of these buttons much more effectively and with more thought. Even the tearful farewell is just better when it is Dreyfuss leaving his whole history behind rather than letting Old Yeller go.

Gandhi
This is a pretty smart way to go around the traditional biopic stuff without falling to its built in short comings. Even the starting blurb is a great way to admit an excess of love to the film's subject that will inevitably fudge the details. This though ignores the one thing tying this mess together: Ben Kingsley in a performance so good and unexpected that by the end of it I would have believed anything he was doing was what Gandhi would. There's just no affectation or actorly presence. It is such a rare performance which makes a person, not build a character. It really doesn't matter what Kingsley did (and continues to do) next since this already proves he's better than everyone else.

Missing
This isn't Z good, but it's certainly leagues over A Mighty Heart which I guess is the most obvious point of comparison. The film isn't as Z, but it still does a lot of good at building the implication of rightful paranoia. It actually strikes me as a tremendously tightrope to walk between showing just how straight up terrible this coup and the bureaucracy is while at the same time undercutting Lemmon and Spacek's belief that they can accomplish anything with enough will. Their blight is too dangerous for any sneering, yet there's a sort of unbelievable arrogance to their belief in the importance of Charlie though I suppose the film's implications are that he is that important. Either way Stewart and Costa-Gavras definitely earned their oscars.

Tootsie
Awful film about awful person who does awful things and gets rewarded for it. This is endlessly engaging for what it reveals about the era it was made in, but in terms of entertainment or even theme its just really gross. The film's view of gender relations let alone feminism is so reductionist that I have to assume everyone involved never spoke to a woman before. Bill Murray is almost absolved because his persona is so distanced from the material, but even then it can't make some of his most cringe worthy lines work. Also how in the name of Jack did Jessica Lange beat Glenn Close in one of the best premier performances I've seen. Lange's just unusually anonymous in this and to reward her over even Terri Garr just seems weird. Hell the fact that this film was the insanely successful comedy dealing with feminism over Garp shows how wacked the world had to be at the time.

The Verdict
This is a reasonable enough of a film though it seems to have just dulled due to television taking over this kind of thing so thoroughly. With even just you basic Law and Order type show this kind of legal pot boiler is an empty calorie. It probably doesn't help that even though it is trying to be this big moral story of the week type deal the drama doesn't hold any particular weight with the mechanics of the research being just ever so slightly more interesting. The lightweight script is not at all aided by how drab the rest of the film is with Lumet's design being to make everything more gray and brown and the actors seemingly all receiving the direction to sleepwalk.

My Vote: Gandhi
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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#395 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:42 pm

Lange was double nominated this year (Also in Best Actress for Frances, which is an amazing performance) and was guaranteed to win one and her competition was Meryl Streep for her most famous role, Sophie's Choice, so that's how. Her part's pretty basic lovable lady stuff, I agree, but even though I hate the film I don't begrudge her the win as in the grand scheme of things, politics has rewarded far worse winners

Agree with you more than usual on a lot of these observations! At least 1983's a pretty good year outside of the Dresser

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#396 Post by knives » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:58 pm

I have yet to see Sophie's Choice, but I agree that she's a knock out in Frances even if I don't find the whole to match up to her performance. I suppose either way she was in a lose lose situation where she'd be futzing with a grade-A type performance wither her win. I guess Close never winning just adds to the sting. I've actually already seen a few of the '83 films though I am going to have to revisit The Big Chill because I don't remember any specifics or even my own reaction.

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#397 Post by domino harvey » Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:36 pm

In a follow-up to our discussion on Dead Poet's Society, I'd like to put in a strong recommendation for a corrective film, All I Wanna Do (Sarah Kernochan 1998) (Which also goes by the Hairy Bird and Strike!), which puts the better known private school film to shame with its tale of young women attending single-sex boarding school in 1963 and gradually finding a voice both as women and as individuals within the confines of the structure. In marked contrast to the phony sentimentalizing of Dead Poet's Society and its unlikely bolstering of surface-level English literature appropriation and hero worship, All I Wanna Do has its cadre of young women meet in its secret society to keep their school from being integrated as co-ed. The film makes perceptive and well-observed arguments for how this symbolically represents the tightening muzzle on women in general, and the gradual volition and agency of all our main female characters is not only moving, but it reminds us of how few films bother to offer such a full view of female voice and concerns within the confines of an amusing and well-crafted teen comedy. I'm not exactly saying the film is a masterpiece, but in its fashion it kind of is: the messages reinforced are smart and progressive without being preachy or aiming for unearned "moving" moments. It's a raunchy teen sex comedy you'd actually want your kids to watch! It's a shame this wasn't one of Miramax's success stories, because I'm kind of shocked I'd never heard of it before-- it holds up better than most teen products from the era, and as far as boarding school movies go, this makes Dead Poet's Society look even worse, and I didn't know that was possible!

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Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#398 Post by knives » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:15 pm

1983
The Big Chill
I guess even in a worst case scenario watching this again was worth it for the soundtrack which is great. Watching this again after only about a year since my first visit my reaction is more or less the same. It's not a bad movie, but it ultimately does nothing for me making it, for me, not a good movie either. It's a nice radio station broken up with easily forgotten bits from likable actors at their least engaging. I don't begrudge those that got something out of this, but for me it's not there at all.

The Dresser
This is really an opposite from Yates' usual MO while maintaining the elements that best serve him as a director. The story is essentially nothing with the title character desperately trying to get the plot to if not move forward than maintain the illusion of such. Yet it is filled with action and effect running down itself and at least this audience member to a nervous bone. Things go along so quickly that it wouldn't have been a shock for Courtenay to suffer Finney's fate. Though I suppose such a thing would reduce the rather brilliant class commentary on display. Things aren't up to the level of The Servant, but all the same the script and performances play against the actors in way that really hits home the sick hierarchy of the English class system. In this, and really all ways, the film lives by Courtenay who takes his queer sycophant in a mean and merciless direction where some other actor may have rested on the kitsch that Norman seems to call for. In a crazed sort of way he pushes the character into a need of this relationship sadistically and more commonly masochistically playing with Finney's Sir with no care for the person. It is only through the routine that Norman seems to survive and at any mental cost he'll keep it to remain happy. Yet by the same token he's never honestly psychotic about it. There leaves a sense that he genuinely thinks the routine is the source to all recovery even if he crouches it in seeming lies. There's a love present in the long term even if the short term witnessed is very acidic.

Of course all of that complexity would die if it was directed to a wall and fortunately Finney gives one of his most alive if overcooked performances. While often times he is a wall the lucid moments more than suggest the tyrant he once was. This leads to probably the most interesting if understated conceit of the whole film which is that within the vein of Jesus of Montreal this film is duplicating in part the play that it is supposed to be playing. Rather quietly it seems to be trying to explain what worth Shakespeare has in the modern era. I suppose makes its period setting a tad counterproductive, but it also adds life beyond the frame not to mention several plot conveniences so it still seems worth having. The commentary itself seems to primarily be within the class parameters I've already talked about though it leaves itself open to more thought than that.

The Right Stuff
This is a great film by any virtue, but it has the nice addition of the academy really rewarding a director at his best. The film, despite epic length, runs lean condensing so much history into such an interesting format where ever character is recognizable and interesting in a way these films rarely ever manage. Even in terms of how it shows its subject its interesting in a uniquely out of time way being totally in love with the space program and the sort of masculinity it represents, but choosing to highlight it through the failures. The result is almost like a Michael Ritchie film wherein the greatest victories also serve as the biggest embarrassments. Certainly this means that Kaufman is devoted to hagiography, but outside of Sam Shepard's stony Chuck Yeager its messy in the best sort of way.

Tender Mercies
Going into this I expected a quiet and sleepy film which I suppose is what I ultimately got, but it seems to be a significantly better film than that descriptor stands as. In an era, hell a year if you look at the rest of '83's slate, that is so loud and so quickly paced the simple unimportant face this has is as welcoming as things come. I would never argue it as great cinema, but as good cinema this is everything I want. Even the bits of drama here and there function as this great, almost therapeutic, decompress where you get swallowed up. Just contrasting it with The Big Chill; that film made me a much more active participant thinking through the characters and participating with themes beyond their awareness. Yet I know as I did before I'll forget it by Monday. This film though I get the sense that its effect if not maybe its story or filmmaking will stick far longer. Its simple and beautiful.

Terms of Endearment
I sort of wish Brooks would learn to cut his films down more as the more than two hour run times are straining with this sort of material. That said here he does sustain himself well enough that it's just a nitpick. Other nitpicks go to the score, particularly the main theme, which has a very soapy quality to it which seems beneath what the film is doing. Visually this is easily the best Brooks film I've seen. Bartkowiak goes simple for the most part, but flares up the lighting and distance from the actors at just the right times. Like I said it's a very simple style, but one that works. For the raise in cinematography the film seems reduced in writing with the characters being a bit more melodramatic and storybook than in his better films. I feel like I'm being excessively mean to a very good film. Certainly Lithgow's and MacLaine's scenes hit the right comic and dramatic balance with MacLaine really earning that oscar, but I guess I had higher expectations from Brooks' big success. Though I guess this makes it a NASA themed year.

My vote: The Right Stuff

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#399 Post by knives » Mon May 05, 2014 1:06 pm

1984
Amadeus
I'm really very happy to see this is actually about Antonio Salieri even if it means suffering through the Little Big Man makeup throughout just because I like his music more (though obviously Mozart's music still gets more play). Abraham is amazing in the role giving a dignity and intelligence to the character that goes beyond the pettiness of the screenplay. Stuff like his reaction to the music and subsequent not bedding of the wife under a different presentation could have taken him for simple villain, but instead there's almost a Hawksian level of love to professionalism here. The conflict, as it is, is how the art of Mozart contradicts with the person which of course gets much uglier play nowadays. Which isn't to say that Hulce as Mozart is chopped liver. It is an extremely off putting performance with the world's worst laugh, but he also can engage with the sympathy of the character in a way more than the music allows one to appreciate why others would dare deal with this buffoon.

The Killing Fields
It's kind of amazing looking at this again and realizing how much I didn't appreciate as a kid despite being aware due to the kids of the people who lived through this being classmates. What is most surprising is how different the film is able to be from others at the time which use this era for its own propping. The film starts out ordinarily enough with outrage at the Americans symbolized almost eyerollingly by Nixon's resignation. Yet it so quietly dissolves into confusion and frustration at the political situation that it becomes unusually admirable. It even begins to lose its political pronunciations for the sake of the love for lack of a better word between Waterson and Ngor which is good since the situation as depicted doesn't need any verbalization which so many of these films forget. The second half especially becomes an act of holding ones breath that just won't relent. Which I suppose only leave the question of how Joffe goes from this to The Scarlet Letter in just a decade.

A Passage to India
All I have to say is that this is not good.

Places in the Heart
This turned out better than I expected by being weirder in parts than I could have hoped. There's nothing necessarily unique to how the movie is told, but it goes about it with so little dialogue at start it gives the sense of experimentation without actually featuring it. These interesting elements slowly erode as the film marches to its plot though it still tells that well enough. Also the presentation of race is interesting though too uninvested a quality to seriously offend.

A Soldier's Story
With all sincerity this couldn't be a more perfect Martin Ritt film had the man himself made it. The movie itself is a pretty basic chamber mystery with a cool enigma opening all of the wounds that could have lead to the killing. That that wound is a racial one is incidental to the point of being quietly essential. It's such an unassuming and natural way to delve into these problems that its a shame it isn't the usual way to do it. Jewison really gets at the heart of the complexities of the culture he is looking at. The murdered soldier in particular is a unique, though unfortunately not unique enough, piece of work. I don't think he's self loathing though there are many stripes of it there like he was Uncle Remus or something. It's also really obvious why Denzel Washington would become the major force he is. Even with his fragmented screentime he owns the place completely.

My Vote: A Soldier's Story

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture (1969-Present)

#400 Post by domino harvey » Wed May 07, 2014 4:03 pm

knives wrote:Which I suppose only leave the question of how Joffe goes from this to The Scarlet Letter in just a decade.
Or to Captivity within another decade from that. Talk about your slippery slopes!

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