You know it's odd...I used to get excited about the Oscars. I'd try and see all the Best Picture nominees and discuss the choices avidly with J and friends but more and more with each passing year I find that I greet the Oscars with a "Meh" sort of attitude. Ambivalence of the highest order.
It's not that they're nominating bad films, it just seems that the Academy tries so hard to "distinguish" itself that it ends up alienating a good part of the films out there. Just films of a certain "kind" get selected and often skill of a filmmaker or editor are ignored if it doesn't suit the academy's definition of good filmmaking...that, and sci fi seems largely ignored, except for the odd sound, costume or visual effect nominations...which they often lose to historical films.
I thought maybe I'd be excited about this years nominees but I'm rather blase about the whole thing yet again. I mean what happened to the childish fun and coolness of movies? I'm hardly a film snob. I saw the Underworld sequel last night and in my humble opinion it kicks ass...good old fashioned vampire werewolf gore B movie with A level effects and a decent enough story.
I don't think my tastes are mutating. I'm still all for good drama/fiction but I'm starting to feel like a lot of things have been "done" and are being redone for no good reason other than to have a star in them or to win an Oscar. I'm enjoying documentaries and fiction and sci-fi as of late...more edgy and thought out and less pandering. That, and the comedy stuff seems to be less and less my style of humor - I haven't really seen a comedy that made me laugh a lot since Anchorman. And after greatsci fi like Serenity I expect a movie to either look cool enough to distract me from it's flaws or have a great plot or characters I genuinely care about.
Hmm..an example of movies nominated for Oscars I genuinely don't get: Sideways -WHah? A boring movie about 2 characters I genuinely disliked doing uninteresting things and it got wads of nominations. But..then again I really liked "Walk the Line" which is up for a few things, so I guess it's a coin toss. The fact that movies can get made with gaping plot holes that should not be allowed to survive past preproduction still baffles me. If children ask me why something is mixed up in a film, shouldn't someone else adultish catch it too?? I just don't get it I guess.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not negative about most things, just ambivalent. I expect too much. I know there has to be something like tha Oscars to battle the mind numbness of the People's Choice Awards here in North America, but there has to be a happy medium. And there's nothing wrong with liking something just cuz it's really cool.
Being in marooned on the prairies does make it hard to see more indie films without waiting a few months more than everyone else, but a lot of the good stuff makes it here...if only for a few days. It seems as though there is a dry spell as of late.
Oh well...there will always hopefully be eye candy films. I know I said "cool!" like a teenager a lot last night during the Underworld sequel. It's been said that I am easily impressed and maybe so. The trailer for the X Men 3 movie made me shout "Woo" in the theatre and I can't wait for V for Vendetta.
or, Maybe I'm just a big geek.
Yeah...that's it.
7 comments:
You are cracked - cracked I tells yuh! Well, we just have different tastes. I really liked "Sideways", thought it was a good film. I thought Paul Giamatti's character was interesting, and can kind of relate to him. Thomas Hayden Church played the perfect letch. And it had Sandra Oh, whom I have always found kind of hot.
Oh yeah, and "So Say We All."
Hmmm...maybe it was a guy kind of movie. I don't know. I just expected it to be good and I just didn't care for it at all.
And do you mean ambivalent (having mixed or divided feelings) or apathetic (which means having a lack of interest or concern)?
Personally, I'm the latter. I don't really care too much one way or another. I don't see enough movies these days for it to influence me too much.
Meh. A bit of both I guess...
"Oh well...there will always hopefully be eye candy films. I know I said "cool!" like a teenager a lot last night during the Underworld sequel."
- my reaction was "Why?" Looked good, and Kate Beckinsale is great eye-candy - but it was bad, worsethan I expected.
"It's been said that I am easily impressed and maybe so."
No comment. ;)
"The trailer for the X Men 3 movie made me shout "Woo" in the theatre and I can't wait for V for Vendetta."
X3 is being directed by Brett Ratner, the guy who did the Rush Hour movies. Brian Singer walked away from the film to do Superman. My understanding is that Marvel was interfering too much with everything.
Ratner the third director to pick up the project - late in the game - and Marvel has stated the film will be out on time. I agree with Pete, that this does not bode well for the film. X-Men, X2 broke ground for the genre. Almost every other Marvel fiom has sucked and sucked hard.
As of V for Vendetta. Hugo Weaving as V, Stephen Rea as Finch and Natalie Portman as Evey sounds pretty good. The Director has worked on films I like, though this is his first film. Of course the Wachowski Bros wrote the film and they only have one film to their credit that I like.
or, Maybe I'm just a big geek.
Yeah...that's it.
That said, it is connected to DC, and I am looking forward to Singer's Superman and Nolan's followup to Batman - so maybe V will end up being worthwhile anyway.
"my reaction was "Why?" Looked good, and Kate Beckinsale is great eye-candy"
Precisely - eye candy. Cool B movie eye candy. Plus I didn't expect a stellar plot to begin with so I was amused to just watch. I grew up watching gore movies and B movies with my brother so I have a bit of a soft spot for that kind of thing when it's done well.
"I agree with Pete, that this does not bode well for the film. X-Men, X2 broke ground for the genre. Almost every other Marvel fiom has sucked and sucked hard."
Man they'd better not screw up Xmen. It and Spiderman and Batman were big for me as a kid and I've been rather giddy with the fact that the movies of them also kicked ass. I really loved the Fantastic 4 as a kid but the few short clips I saw of that film made me not even go and see it to save my sanity. It's be a real shame for XMen to go downhill.
It amuses me how I can forgive a lot when the movie isn't as important to me (ie. Underworld) but if you bring up Xmen I get all nervous.
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