Yay! I liked the show.
The only thing I'm really pissed about is Children of Men losing cinematography... not just the fact that it lost but the reasons why it lost. I get that Pan's was more typically "pretty" and more loved in general, but I hate that a nominee who won the guild award, BAFTA and every critics award AND who was the most innovative and unique AND who should've won last year too lost to another film just cause it was "prettier" and had the heat. Anyone who was paying any attention would've seen that Children of Men was far and away the superior - indeed, the only - choice. It's always sad when a frontrunner that's actually deserving ends up losing, but alas it seems to happen every year.
But aside from that... yay! I really enjoyed most of the wins. And my three last-minute changes (in song, foreign film and supporting actor) were ALL correct. Go me. Also, Ellen is great and should host this thing every year.
So, I did pretty well, getting a few of the surprises, but missing others. I knew Happy Feet had a shot at the win, but was not courageous enough to predict it. The Departed win in editing surprised me, as did the aforementioned Pan's win cinematography win. Also, HOW did Gustavo Santaolalla win AGAIN for a score that was barely there? They love him. He's the Tom Hanks of the original score category. But you'd think that score would've been disqualified when other highly acclaimed work (Moulin Rouge, The Aviator, etc.) has been in the past.
Anyway, I was sad that Peter O'Toole lost. I think his perf was in the same league as Whitaker's, and it would've been great to see him win. But as it is, he holds the record for most nominated actor never to win, so that's kind of special. I'm also happy for Etheridge and Inconvenient Truth. I know Glenn isn't, but whatever. Here in America where people are stupid, that movie has actually made a huge difference. People in general didn't used to "get" global warming. Now they do. And it's largely this film's fault. Plus, I just thought it was really good... like, as a film. So more power to it.
And yay for Marty. FINALLY. I'm glad The Departed won, cause it proves the academy is still sort of in touch with critics and the public, and spares Little Miss Sunshine the backlash it would've gotten from a win.
I also predicted all top 8 categories correctly. Yay! Even though I kinda died in the techs. I didn't really predict animated short/documentary short/live action short, but of the categories I DID predict, I got 16/21 right. And if I had officially predicted the other three, I'd have gotten two of them, for a total of 18/24 (at my oscar party, I marked down West Bank Story and The Blood from Yingzhou District, but missed the other one... but I have no blog record of that). Oh yeah, and I got 9 out of 13 Spirit Award predictions right. That's not bad, I guess.
Phew. OK, that's it. I have school stuff to do now. I have to learn how to use a film camera and also learn a bunch of piano by tomorrow morning. Maybe.
Check for the continuation of the Streepathon, and the beginning of the Altmanathon and the Almovovaration (yes, another one... with the oscars over, I will have time) in the coming weeks. That, and continued screenings of old 2006 films I never got to.
Cheers!
Labels: awards season 2006
posted by adam k. @ 1:13 AM
5 Comments:
Just because a subject matter is thought provoking and important doesn't make the film well-made. Cause it's not. It's a stagnant boring-to-look-at documentation of a slideshow.
Sure, global warming is a big freakin' deal but tell me Adam - do you really think you're going to reverse global warming if you put in energy saving light globes? I doubt it.
Many big businesses still pump out megatonnes of the bad stuff.
It would have been a good documentary if maybe they'd gone to places devastated by GW instead of just use stock footage. Actually research and document a place ravaged but it. Weave the information into the film.
I dunno. I'm just insulted when people are condescending towards me and who think they're supreme beings. That's also why I dislike Kris Tapley. lol
Sorry for ranting.
I enjoyed the show though!
Did I come off as condescending? I didn't mean to. Or did Inconvenient Truth come off as condescending? Agreed that Tapley sometimes comes across as condescending, but he has other good points which offset that enough for me not to mind too much.
Anyway, there was no sarcasm intended in my comment about stupid America. Americans really are just THAT stupid, especially when it comes to enacting policy. I think the reason the film is looked at so lovingly is that it's changed the dialogue here. It's not really about "everyone doing a little bit can make a difference," it's about the public finally getting the urgency of it and hence the government being forced to act. I think it will really only be solved at the mass/governmental level.
Anyway, I am just scared of global warming enough that I too am willing to love any movie that attempts to fight it. But on that note, my defense of the film is two-fold:
1) I think it works as a character study of Gore as much as a lecture about global warming. And that is why it succeeds as a film. I may be remembering it wrong (long time ago), but I remember being fascinated by Gore's personality and life, as well as the educational stuff. But I may have just brought that to it myself. In any case, I found it very engaging and never boring or stagnant.
2) A film need not be incredibly challenging to make in order for it to be good. I don't think it's a great film by any means, and there were probably better documentaries this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it worthy of the award. And this is one of those times (a la Halle's win) when making a statement trumped all else in voting.
Ew, I can't believe I just compared it to Halle's win. So yeah, I see you're issue. If I didn't like the film and were not particularly more educated because of it, then I'd be annoyed at all the hype, too, but I was educated by it, and I also liked it a lot. So there you go.
Peace? I feel a rift. eh.
Oh heavens no, you're not condescending. It's Al Gore who is. And the movie in general.
You don't need to defend your stance against the film because you're clearly in the majority. I feel I need to go on seemingly endless rants because only a scant few seem to have the same opinion as me.
I received an e-mail from someone who obviously read/reads my blog. They gave me an internet address about global warming and said "go there and educate yourself".
I was like "doesn't think person read what I say?" and that made me even angrier and then I ate a piece of cake and I felt better. Cake does that.
Cake? Ooh, now I feel like watching Marie Antoinette again. You know, the movie that won the Academy Award for Costume Design (woo!). I'm very pleased with that win, in addition to The Departed goodness and everything else.
I'm kind of torn on An Inconvenient Truth, and I like both of your arguments. For me, the biggest obstacle to giving the film a respectful grade is the ridiculous hero worship that prevails. As you say Adam, the personal background and context is very useful, but I think that there's a fine line that Guggenheim (the director) crosses repeatedly. It makes Gore out to be some sort of martyr for the cause, which was exasperating to watch. Case in point - just watch Guggenheim drool all over Gore in his acceptance speech. It was embarrassing.
As for other points that were brought up - yes, the Lubezki snub was appalling. Worst moment of the night. Ellen was endearing. The Babel score win was just bizarre (as I've stated before, that was the last place I was expecting a win for the film. Even Adriana Barraza would have been more likely.)
Well I definitely see where you both are coming from. It's always annoying to witness a film one doesn't like being bathed in excessive praise. I personally really enjoyed it, but if I watched it again, I might feel differently.
I do admit straight up to being biased in a number of ways.
1) David Guggenheim went to my school, do it's tough for me to hate on him. I know that's full-on home team bias, but there you go. Brown grad making good = yay! But let's just say I'm still much more proud of Todd Haynes and Laura Linney.
2) I live in Miami and plan eventually to live in NYC. At this rate, both those cities could be underwater by the end of my lifetime. Scary.
3) re: Miami... I had to endure, at age 17, the freakishness of the Florida 2000 election debacle, watching in horror as Gore eventually lost the presidency to that ******* thanks to my goddamn stupid, corrupt state. Those recounts were happening mere miles from my home. They were a staple of discussion my senior year of high school. And I was ALWAYS rooting for Gore and was always appalled by the shoddy treatment he was given by the media. Until recently, he's never been given his due as the environmental trailblazer and generally good person he always was. So yeah, I just have a bit of a personal history with Gore and the Gore mythology.
Long story short, I don't really mind the hero worship, because I personally think he's a great man. I'm glad to see sweet vindication finally reach him. If people go a little overboard now, well... I think they're entitled. It makes them feel less dumb for hating him before.
But I get why you don't like Guggenheim; his speech was kind of annoying and his filmmaking in and of itself was not all that. I think if anyone's pretentious, it's not Al Gore, it's more Guggenheim for putting Gore on that pedestal.
I should really watch the film again.
Yay for discussion, though! Hope you got through all that. If so... I apologize for the length. : (
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