Who's Your Oscar for Best Picture?

[Fig Neutron]

Even here in Chicago, "There Will Be Blood" was in such limited release until the actual Oscars.

Just wondering, for those that have seen both, which do you think was better?

Or of course, neither?

(I didn't see a similar post, but let me know if it's been done, or if no one cares!--I guess we'll find that out son enough!)

[Quicksilver]

I was almost literally forced to watch the oscars and hardly agreed with any of the choices.......hell, I hardly saw ANY of the movies.

[mrbasehart]

I actually thought the Oscars made most of the right choices.  No Country for Old Men was my favourite film of last year (though the rest of the nominees were pretty close), but I thought Daniel Day Lewis deserved his Oscar for best actor.  The only minor quibble I had was for best actress, which I would've like to have seen Julie Christie win for her outstanding turn in Away From Her.

[Fig Neutron]

I was almost literally forced to watch the oscars and hardly agreed with any of the choices.......hell, I hardly saw ANY of the movies.

What's your story, Quicksilver?  Lay it on us.  I'm quite resigned to simply viewing the results, and tracking down videos of any outRAGEous stuff.

I'm glad to see Day-Lewis win actor, but I felt the movie was so underrepresented in theaters for too long up until the Oscars.

The movie wasn't even at the nearby 'arty' theater in January (Hell, I saw The Orphanage there before Blood made it).

[SmilinJackRoss]

I'm surprised Chicago didn't get a wider release than what you're saying.  Here in Madison we had TWBB right away.  But, we have one of the only Sundance Theaters, so maybe we're spoiled.

Anyways, I (for once) agreed with the academy this year.  NCFOM was the best film of the year.  I didn't really like TWBB, but Daniel Day-Lewis definitely deserved the Oscar, his performance was phenomenal.

EDIT: Looking at their website, it looks like you guys in Chicago are getting a sundance theater in the next couple years, along with Denver.

[SmilinJackRoss]

Just for fun, I'll post the 5 movies that I would have nominated for Best Picture:

No Country For Old Men
Zodiac
Once
Black Snake Moan
3:10 to Yuma

But, I haven't seen Michael Clayton, Into The Wild, or Juno, and I think those all have the potential to supplant 3:10 to Yuma on my list.

[Fig Neutron]

Just for fun, I'll post the 5 movies that I would have nominated for Best Picture:

No Country For Old Men
Zodiac
Once
Black Snake Moan
3:10 to Yuma

But, I haven't seen Michael Clayton, Into The Wild, or Juno, and I think those all have the potential to supplant 3:10 to Yuma on my list.

If I may get a littler personal, here....

3:10 to Yuma:  Something I'll always hold dear, as I saw it with my dad (whom I don't get to see too much, and especially go to movies with).  He was so very thrilled with it, he whispered as we were walking out, "I think that might have been the best movie I've ever seen."  We then went to Denny's and the service took FOREVER (so bad that they gave us a discount), but at least we were able to talk about Yuma--knowing how many movies I've seen, he felt awkward at first thinking that, but I assured him honestly that I thought it was one top-notch film.

[Minnesota]

3:10 to Yuma was the best non-Futurama related movie this year. Great film.

As for the Oscar winner No Country, I liked the movie... didn't like the ending. It's like the filmmakers decided to set up a cop/killer confrontation, then forgot to pay it off. Kinda lame in my opinion. I guess I don't have a problem with the killer murdering the wife at the end (its what his character does) but I hate movies where the bad guy doesn't get caught by the main character. The ride was fun but the ending was weak in my opinion.

[Fig Neutron]

Tommy just kinda left, didn't he?

[BBQ Platypus]

Well, that wasn't really the point of the movie.

It's a story about fate and whatnot.  With the coin, and the speech at the end, where TLJ knew that his father would be waiting for him.  KNEW...as in deterministically.  Consider the recurring motif of being able to determine where somebody is by the trail of blood they leave behind.  Chigurh is not so much a hired killer as he is a symbol of death and inevitability itself.  That's why I think the ending was brilliant (even though the first thought that popped into my head was "Oh, they've pulled a Sopranos.")  It took about 30 seconds or so for it to sink in.

[SmilinJackRoss]

Definitely.

NCFOM If they would've had a cop/killer payoff scene, it would have trivialized the movie for me.  It would have been like every other run-of-the-mill cat & mouse action flick.  In order to make their film stand apart from that, they had to be daring, they had to surprise the viewer.  By not satisfying the bloodlust of the viewer by avoiding Chigurh's death, they force the film in another direction, a much more philosophical one.  Further spiraling away form what you expect, they end the film on TLJ describing his dream.  I LOVED the ending, because it meant something to me, it hit me philosophically & emotionally harder than any boring gunfight would have.

[Fig Neutron]

I agree with you both--makes it resonate more for repeated viewings.

Now, too many people have been suckered into watching the end of Blood on YouTube without knowing it.

But they are both similar in that it's not about the end, but the journey.