The "last movie I saw" thread

[Jeff Lebowski]

We watched Birdman tonight. Didn't work for me at all. The one-continuous-shot thing was cool and the acting was good, but I found the plot to be random and incoherent and ultimately boring. Too artsy fartsy and pretentious for my tastes. I would put it above American Sniper but below all the other BP nominees I have seen (still waiting to see Boyhood and Selma).

[Uncle Ted]

I though the movie was boring as hell, but Redmayne did well enough to deserve a nomination.

I was quite excited when both this and the Turing movie came out... Two of the great minds of our time. I enjoyed them both even though the Turing movie wasn't all that accurate.

[Katy Lied]

Saw Birdman and felt like a philistine because I didn't like it. Then I read JL's review and that's exactly how I felt. You can admire performances and not like the movie. I remember seeing Agnes of God and thinking that Jane Fonda was terrific and hating the movie.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Saw Birdman and felt like a philistine because I didn't like it. Then I read JL's review and that's exactly how I felt. You can admire performances and not like the movie. I remember seeing Agnes of God and thinking that Jane Fonda was terrific and hating the movie.

[Katy Lied]

Formula for winning (or being nominated for an) academy award : Make a movie about movie making. Or introduce new techniques no matter how inconsequential*. As evidence:

About a Boy
Birdman
The Artist
Hugo
Purple Rose of Cairo
Cinema Paradiso
Ed Wood

No one ever lost money overestimating Hollywood's love affair with itself.


*Unless the new techniques are for special effects. Then no one cares.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Formula for winning (or being nominated for an) academy award : Make a movie about movie making. Or introduce new techniques no matter how inconsequential*. As evidence:

About a Boy
Birdman
The Artist
Hugo
Purple Rose of Cairo
Cinema Paradiso
Ed Wood

No one ever lost money overestimating Hollywood's love affair with itself.


*Unless the new techniques are for special effects. Then no one cares.

Ha! I said the exact same thing to my wife last night and listed most of those same movies.

Feeling a special bond with KL right now.

[woot]

Formula for winning (or being nominated for an) academy award : Make a movie about movie making. Or introduce new techniques no matter how inconsequential*. As evidence:

About a Boy
Birdman
The Artist
Hugo
Purple Rose of Cairo
Cinema Paradiso
Ed Wood

No one ever lost money overestimating Hollywood's love affair with itself.


*Unless the new techniques are for special effects. Then no one cares.

I'd throw Boyhood in there too. There's an attempt at profundity, but it mostly seemed like a movie-making gimmick in search of a movie.

[Commando]

I'd throw Boyhood in there too. There's an attempt at profundity, but it mostly seemed like a movie-making gimmick in search of a movie.

I think she actually meant Boyhood; About a Boy doesn't really fit on that list.

[woot]

I think she actually meant Boyhood; About a Boy doesn't really fit on that list.

Ah that makes sense. I haven't seen About a Boy in a while and figured I'd missed something.

I do think, however, that the Oscars being biased toward movies that introduce new techniques is neither unexpected nor particularly unfortunate. Although it has become the mainstream barometer for success, it's still an industry thing, so a movie that innovates probably should be looked at more favorably than one that merely combines the usual tropes in an especially satisfying way. Alternatives like the MTV movie awards and the People's Choice awards might have filled the "just pick the best mainstream movie" niche, but that turns out to be really difficult.

There have really only been a few years when the Oscar didn't go to what turned out to be the best movie of that year, despite the academy's biases. This year I don't think any movie was particularly great, so I don't have a problem giving it to a movie that innovates.

Regarding Birdman, I'm a big fan of long takes. Contact has a long tracking shot that I remember being impressed by, even though it was just dialog. Children of Men has some very intense ones, and the one in True Detective was extremely successful at ratcheting up the tension and putting you right there in the middle of everything. Even Scrubs had a single-shot cold open one time that gives you a better sense of the hospital's geography. Birdman is a cool experiment to see what happens when you do that for a whole movie. What we learned is that it's exhausting and kind of annoying. Well, now we know.

[Northwestcoug]

Ah that makes sense. I haven't seen About a Boy in a while and figured I'd missed something.

I do think, however, that the Oscars being biased toward movies that introduce new techniques is neither unexpected nor particularly unfortunate. Although it has become the mainstream barometer for success, it's still an industry thing, so a movie that innovates probably should be looked at more favorably than one that merely combines the usual tropes in an especially satisfying way. Alternatives like the MTV movie awards and the People's Choice awards might have filled the "just pick the best mainstream movie" niche, but that turns out to be really difficult.

There have really only been a few years when the Oscar didn't go to what turned out to be the best movie of that year, despite the academy's biases. This year I don't think any movie was particularly great, so I don't have a problem giving it to a movie that innovates.

Regarding Birdman, I'm a big fan of long takes. Contact has a long tracking shot that I remember being impressed by, even though it was just dialog. Children of Men has some very intense ones, and the one in True Detective was extremely successful at ratcheting up the tension and putting you right there in the middle of everything. Even Scrubs had a single-shot cold open one time that gives you a better sense of the hospital's geography. Birdman is a cool experiment to see what happens when you do that for a whole movie. What we learned is that it's exhausting and kind of annoying. Well, now we know.

I love that extended fighting scene in 'The Children of Men'. Very powerful.

This was the first year that I saw most of the films that were up for best picture. I said it before; I really liked 'Birdman' and 'Boyhood'. I'll admit that a lot of my admiration is based on the ambition of those films, especially Boyhood. But I still liked them.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Ah that makes sense. I haven't seen About a Boy in a while and figured I'd missed something.

I do think, however, that the Oscars being biased toward movies that introduce new techniques is neither unexpected nor particularly unfortunate. Although it has become the mainstream barometer for success, it's still an industry thing, so a movie that innovates probably should be looked at more favorably than one that merely combines the usual tropes in an especially satisfying way. Alternatives like the MTV movie awards and the People's Choice awards might have filled the "just pick the best mainstream movie" niche, but that turns out to be really difficult.

There have really only been a few years when the Oscar didn't go to what turned out to be the best movie of that year, despite the academy's biases. This year I don't think any movie was particularly great, so I don't have a problem giving it to a movie that innovates.

Regarding Birdman, I'm a big fan of long takes. Contact has a long tracking shot that I remember being impressed by, even though it was just dialog. Children of Men has some very intense ones, and the one in True Detective was extremely successful at ratcheting up the tension and putting you right there in the middle of everything. Even Scrubs had a single-shot cold open one time that gives you a better sense of the hospital's geography. Birdman is a cool experiment to see what happens when you do that for a whole movie. What we learned is that it's exhausting and kind of annoying. Well, now we know.

Art will always be a subjective experience. Some years I agree with them and some I don't.

[Paperback Writer]

Formula for winning (or being nominated for an) academy award : Make a movie about movie making. Or introduce new techniques no matter how inconsequential*. As evidence:

About a Boy
Birdman
The Artist
Hugo
Purple Rose of Cairo
Cinema Paradiso
Ed Wood

No one ever lost money overestimating Hollywood's love affair with itself.


*Unless the new techniques are for special effects. Then no one cares.

IMO, Argo needs to be at the top of this list.

[Commando]

IMO, Argo needs to be at the top of this list.

Why?

[TripletDaddy]

IMO, Argo needs to be at the top of this list.

Argo f*** yourself!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Why?

A group of gritty film-makers from Hollywood engage in a secret operation to free US hostages, at great peril to their own lives.