Oscars 2015!

[Kete]

We should do it for real. Take nominations and vote on them.

[Edward J Grug III]

We should do it for real. Take nominations and vote on them.

I would find that a really fun project. It would have to be post-actual-Oscars though, as I am too busy trying to catch all of them.

[JimJ]

Whiplash - Extremely stressful, but very enjoyable film. JK Simmons is tremendous. Of the Best Supporting Actors I've seen so far, I think he has it in the bag. The ending deflates my enjoyment of it a little bit.

Really?  The ending was the best part of the movie for me, I thought it was amazing.  The main thing that holds the movie back for me was the car crash and the aftermath of it.  That entire sequence was completely implausible. I still think it's one of the best movies of the year though.

[Edward J Grug III]

Whiplash - Extremely stressful, but very enjoyable film. JK Simmons is tremendous. Of the Best Supporting Actors I've seen so far, I think he has it in the bag. The ending deflates my enjoyment of it a little bit.

Really?  The ending was the best part of the movie for me, I thought it was amazing.  The main thing that holds the movie back for me was the car crash and the aftermath of it.  That entire sequence was completely implausible. I still think it's one of the best movies of the year though.

Yeah, the ending just essentially justifies his shitty abuse.

[ScottotD]

Haven't seen it but for the end to be he dealt with all that bullshit and still wasn't good seems like a hugely depressing ending, like if David Healthcot only able to play chopsticks after the years of abuse from his dad

[Edward J Grug III]

Haven't seen it but for the end to be he dealt with all that bullshit and still wasn't good seems like a hugely depressing ending, like if David Healthcot only able to play chopsticks after the years of abuse from his dad

Well, I don't know if you want to read this having not seen it, but:

He could have got good on his own terms, it didn't have to be because the shitty teacher managed to humiliate him one last time. It also just felt like so what. He was this degree of good, and at the end he was another degree better.

Lastly, it was very annoying to learn the story they kept talking about through the movie wasn't true and didn't relate to someone abusing someone to inspire them to become great.

[ScottotD]

Haven't seen it but for the end to be he dealt with all that bullshit and still wasn't good seems like a hugely depressing ending, like if David Healthcot only able to play chopsticks after the years of abuse from his dad

Well, I don't know if you want to read this having not seen it, but:

He could have got good on his own terms, it didn't have to be because the shitty teacher managed to humiliate him one last time. It also just felt like so what. He was this degree of good, and at the end he was another degree better.

Lastly, it was very annoying to learn the story they kept talking about through the movie wasn't true and didn't relate to someone abusing someone to inspire them to become great.

Eh, fair enough.  I'm probably not going to watch it anyway, seems trigger-y

[Edward J Grug III]

Haven't seen it but for the end to be he dealt with all that bullshit and still wasn't good seems like a hugely depressing ending, like if David Healthcot only able to play chopsticks after the years of abuse from his dad

Well, I don't know if you want to read this having not seen it, but:

He could have got good on his own terms, it didn't have to be because the shitty teacher managed to humiliate him one last time. It also just felt like so what. He was this degree of good, and at the end he was another degree better.

Lastly, it was very annoying to learn the story they kept talking about through the movie wasn't true and didn't relate to someone abusing someone to inspire them to become great.

Eh, fair enough.  I'm probably not going to watch it anyway, seems trigger-y

I'd say that's a fair assessment.

[RoninFox]

Birdman - Amazing film! I don't think it'll beat Boyhood for best picture, but it's currently my favourite picture. In fact, I have a feeling this will be one of those films that gets nominated for everything and walks away with very little.

Saw it this past weekend too, and loved it.  Never saw a movie that so accurately captured the tension backstage of acting for a live audience.  Keaton was awe inspiring in his performance.  The cinematography was incredible.  Can't think of a single flaw, really.

[Relaxing Dragon]

re: Whiplash's ending.

It's a bit ambiguous as to how that movie ends. On the one hand, while I wouldn't go so far as to say that it justifies Fletcher's message (a message I think is totally full of it, which the movie does emphasize a bit with the other guy's suicide), it does indicate that Andrew's life is going to be one that's shorter ad unhappier than it might've otherwise been. The director has actually come out to say that it's a bit of an unhappy ending in that regard, because Andrew has become someone who can only seem to achieve greatness through incredible personal suffering. The expression on Andrew's dad's face at the end says it all: his son is tearing it up onstage, but he's not smiling. On the other hand, Andrew is still achieving in spite of his surroundings, and he does show himself to have the willpower necessary to succeed, as much as Fletcher eventually went out of his way to screw him over.

Whatever the case, it's still an outstanding movie. And that ending is probably the best part, because it's such an electrifying piece of cinema. Seriously, the movie should get the editing Oscar for that sequence alone. I can't really think of another time I've had the images/music so in line with each other and so affecting.

[Darth Geek]

This movie sounds awful now:

http://www.chud.com/160177/movie-curiosities-american-sniper/

Good acting or directing aside, conservative propaganda is just the worst.

[Kete]

This movie sounds awful now:

http://www.chud.com/160177/movie-curiosities-american-sniper/

Good acting or directing aside, conservative propaganda is just the worst.

I didn't love it.  I really had a propaganda feeling the whole time.  I've been wary of Clint ever since he yelled at that poor chair.

[RoninFox]

This movie sounds awful now:

http://www.chud.com/160177/movie-curiosities-american-sniper/

Good acting or directing aside, conservative propaganda is just the worst.

I didn't love it.  I really had a propaganda feeling the whole time.  I've been wary of Clint ever since he yelled at that poor chair.

I've been losing interest by the day ever since it started an annoying war on Facebook after Michael Moore made a comment that caused every conservative in earshot to declare Chris Kyle their lord and savior.

[anais.butterfly]

Wait, Chris Kyle isn't our lord and savior?

[Relaxing Dragon]

This movie sounds awful now:

http://www.chud.com/160177/movie-curiosities-american-sniper/

Good acting or directing aside, conservative propaganda is just the worst.

I didn't love it.  I really had a propaganda feeling the whole time.  I've been wary of Clint ever since he yelled at that poor chair.

I didn't much care for the movie either, but I think calling it outright propaganda is a bit much, but I think that has more to do with it being a bit of a lazy movie. I mean, I could probably find a whole host of political and raical issues I had with the movie (which would then open up the usual kettle of fish that comes with war movies. For instance, one of my all-time favorite movies is Black Hawk Down, and that one's got a whole host of political issues all its own. But, I digress), but in truth, most of the reasons for my dislike stem from more basic means. The movie just feels like a bland, by-the-numbers modern biopic. The set pieces feel either lazily out together or perfectly competent, the movie gets repetitive the way to just flashes back and forth between Iraq and being back stateside, and it gets constantly bogged down with this weird evil-enemy-sniper plotline. Cooper does a fine job as Chris, but it's nothing really outstanding (and apparently he cleans the act up considerably from what the real guy is like. Just glancing through snippets of his autobiography, he doesn't sound like the sort of person I'd want to be anywhere near, ever).

What's really bothersome is that the most interesting parts of the movie are the little flashes of PTSD stuff (affecting both Chris and the soldiers around him), and the movie chooses to only barely touch on them. They come in flashes that are very well done, and then disappear so we can go on another stretch of shoot-people-in-the-desert.

A better example of what it might've been trying to go for was in The Hurt Locker. A wholly unrealistic film all its own, yes, but that smash cut at the end when Renner's character is back home is still perfectly evocative and effective with what they were going for. Here, things just sort of happen, and Chris gets worse and better because he has to get worse and then better. This movie is nowhere near what Clint has been able to do in the past, both in terms of directorial ability and general quality/treatment of war and the folks who fight it (see: Letters from Iwo Jima/Flags of our Fathers).

EDIT: This article also explores how the film takes a somewhat even-handed approach to being both pro- and anti-war. Still tricky, because that's not exactly a balance one "should" be making, particularly when dealing with as a big a national mistake at the war in Iraq.