Support NeoGAF

[lightskintwin]

He does it great, but that's it. It's at the point where I can not see him play a different character anymore. I only see Denzel now. Is he a better actor? Yes, he can sell Denzel far better than Keanu can sell Keanu. But it's not like his roles are differing much anymore.

But I also think this is a strength. For example, I do not like Depp typically when he leads. Sure, he has the variety, but not the leading man quality. It's always been better in small doses. Denzel, I don't think I've ever got tired of him in a picture. He's like Nicholson for a comparison. Sure, he may go out there and play the same character in different shades, but it's what he's best at and he did it well. Not become a burn out either like Pacino or DeNiro.

I feel like very few actors can do both. Have the variety, yet still lead.

He's a Black leading man in Hollywood, what type of variety does he have as a lead that pays well? He already did all of those various roles when he was younger.

 

[MrMephistoX]

Jackie was such an odd experience for me. I felt so cold & like I was kept at arm's length but the technical prowess on display in that film was outrageous. It felt more like I was watching the beginnings of some horror/psycho-thriller film.

And yea, Portman was in top shape. I remember when the film first premiered Venice and exploded. Portman came out of nowhere and looked like she was all set for Oscar #2 and the film was gonna rack up nominations across the board. Saddens me that's not how it turned out.

I think that was the intent it's like a case study on PTSD. Unsettling but raw and real I haven't cried during a movie in years her performance really conveyed the chaos and sense of deep loss coming out of nowhere. Even the assasination told in flashbacks was perfect.

 

[UberTag]

I recall the GAF MOTY rankings actually being pretty solid these past few years and not just being filled with every superhero/summer blockbuster. So we're not so bad.

I can vouch for the fact that they're going to be pretty solid this year as well, too.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Yeah its depiction of Iran and its people was awful. I cannot believe it won Best Picture.

Affleck may be a decent craftsman, but Argo was a bastardization of reality, in the most Hollywood way possible. I expected better to be honest, for whatever reason, but that was not an interesting film.

 

[hurricanes]

Ehh... how to put it: I like critics with personal opinions, but not when it seems like personal opinion is all she got. Most of her critics are incredibly shallow, she kept talk about "he's good, she's bad" but gave no real instance to support her argument... and oh I get she hates arrival, she did not need to shout it in every paragraph.(I haven't seen the movie yet and I hope I don't hate it that much.)

Manchester by the sea is great, so there is that.

She's definitely not a person I would seek recommendations from.

 

[Klocker]

.But I loved, loved, loved Viggo Mortensen's performance [in Captain Fantastic].

Preach it!

 

[vulva]

This year's Oscars are pretty unexciting. I honestly don't think any of the BP nominees were anywhere near the best film of the year.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Yikes, what was her problem with Arrival?
Most everything else made sense enough, but it seemed she didn't even want to consider Arrival.

Genre stuff doesn't play with Academy voters. It'll be a lot going time before a scifi flick wins BP.

 

[Spiral Insanity]

This isn't really fair at all. A lot of cinemas have a poster for each of the leads/billed actors.

 

[jmood88]

I don't know why she loved Hell or High Water so much. It was an ok movie but nothing special.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

They got A Man Called Ove right at least. What a gem.

 

[EatinOlives]

I think that was the intent it's like a case study on PTSD. Unsettling but raw and real I haven't cried during a movie in years her performance really conveyed the chaos and sense of deep loss coming out of nowhere. Even the assasination told in flashbacks was perfect.

Exactly. The movie was super intense and disorienting, often with the camera directly on her face at a claustrophobic distance. I thought going into the movie that it was gonna be a standard biopic-style film but holy shit was I wrong. The scene where

Spoiler

she's crying into the camera as she wipes her husband's blood off her face is haunting and heartbreaking.

Shame that she and the movie seems to be passed over. I think it's one of her best performances.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

This lady is so much harsher to women than she is to the men.

 

[Atraveller]

The Arrival hate is completely incomprehensible and unwarranted. What a joke!

I like 12 years a slave a lot, but I'm really not up for a rewatch anytime soon, that movie is hard to watch.

 

[daveo42]

Yikes, what was her problem with Arrival?
Most everything else made sense enough, but it seemed she didn't even want to consider Arrival.

She has no soul or she really hated the

Spoiler

right wing conspiracy blogger bit because political ties or some such nonsense

in the middle of the film. To be fair, that was a bit ham but did help to push the film towards the final act.

 

[Gnome]

Hell or High Water is totally the most deserving film for best picture of the ones we all know don't stand a chance aka arent named: La La Land, Moonlight, or Manchester by the Sea.

 

[Isotropy]

This has just reinforced my long-held suspicion and frustration that the design and technical awards are not given on their own merits, but on how much the voter liked the actual movie. Basically, treating them all as their own little best picture vote.

 

[hurricanes]

She's not a critic. Critics aren't (typically, although I suppose they theoretically could be) members of the Academy.

My mistake then.

 

[Alx]

[Elle's] Isabelle Huppert is an ice-cold actress, and I eliminated her because when you get attacked, beaten and raped, you're not the same person afterward, but she was, and I wanted to slap her to try to get a reaction out of her.

I thought that was kind of the point of the movie. It wouldn't be an interesting story if her character acted like you expect her to.

 

[mariachi507]

At least she actually watched all of the films in the "animated" category. She kind of missed the point of Huppert's performance in Elle though.

 

[Sunster]

La La Land is overhyped af.

 

[Sec0nd]

Don't forget how the voting system of the Oscars actually work though. I'm sure many of the Oscar voters won't have La La Land on their list at #1 but somewhere around 2-4. Which would actually work to benefit La La Land in winning the Oscars oddly enough. Unless there is a strong consensus for the winning film, which I kinda doubt.

 

[GhostWriter24]

La La Land is overhyped af.

I thought it was an excellent film and highly deserving of the praise, but one man's La La Land is another man's stinker. All depends on taste.

 

[Xater]

La La Land is overhyped af.

But it's the kind of masturbatory Holywood film the Academy just loves. I think it was just ok. It's very flawed. Whiplash was a better film.


This lady really does sound like your average forum poster. Especially when it comes to Arrival and the German entry. Hell I can make more articulated arguments and appreciate almost any nominee. In fact I did so in a podcast I recorded. This is a particular strong Oscar year and I don't think anything sucked.

 

[GamerJM]

It's weird how her justifications for a lot of her choices are at least somewhat nuanced, but her argument against Arrival is just "It sucked".

 

[Zen Aku]

Slightly off-topic, but aren't the majority of Oscar voters are Caucasian, 40 and older?

If so. They probably need some more diversity in there.

 

[TrutaS]

Feels like the voter should stop going to the movies... doesn't seem to enjoy them very much in general.

 

[broncobuster]

This is actually totally understandable. I am NOT an academy member, but most people get far more screeners than they have time to watch and hurdles like not being able to conveniently watch the movie (because no screener got to the voter, or because the screener didn't work) are not worth the effort to overcome.

Probably should've added the category (hair and makeup). It's a technical award. She determines that she'd probably give it based on the half she's seen. She's not above casting judgement on incomplete movie viewings elsewhere, and more or less says she eliminated it out of pettiness--it may be understandable, but it's petty .

 

[firehawk12]

This is a silly process. No one is a winner - it's literally best of the worst. lol

Side note: I think Emma Stone did a better job in Cameron Crowe's Aloha, which got like a 20% on Rottentomatoes and panned by audiences..

Maybe she's only suited to play part-Asian characters!

 

[Strax]

Because it prevents real supporting actresses, like the waitress in Hell or High Water [Margaret Bowman], from getting nominated

This might be the strangest part in all of this.

 

[Spuck-uk]

La La Land is pretentious garbage. the fact it got nominated for best costume design (!) goes to show how in the tank this movie is - it's a Hollywood movie about Hollywood. Hope it loses. It is the next "Crash" and "Hurt Locker", no one will remember it 5 or 10 years from now.

Agreed, La La Land is the most masturbatory self congratulating film Hollywood have put out in a long time.

For comparison, I thought Whiplash was amazing.

 

[Window]

Agreed, La La Land is the most masturbatory self congratulating film Hollywood have put out in a long time.

I would say Argo has it beat handily in that department.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

I thought Arrival wasn't very good, and La La Land was a mediocre musical (as in I already don't remember any of the songs apart from city of stars main refrain) with a good story.

So looks good to me. Though I would have preferred she went into more detail on why she hates Arrival.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Arrival was probably asking her too much to appreciate the scientific focus of the movie.

Hey, arrival isnt the best movie ever, but I have no doubt this woman would say the same thing about 2001.

 

[Diprosalic]

Just saying something is "pretentious" is lazy criticism.

Out of all the nominees i'm probably rooting for Manchester by the Sea or Arrival. It will come down to Moonlight or LaLaLand and i would have to go with LLL.

 

[Spikematic]

The hate La La Land gets around here is unwarranted. It was a very charming movie with great performances, good musical numbers and an unexpectedly bittersweet ending. I didn't think it was pretentious at ALL. Could anyone who thinks that elaborate a bit? Is it because it was a musical? Does bursting into song and dance make stuff pretentious? I guess that makes almost every Bollywood movie in existence super pretentious!

Also, her hate for Arrival is hilarious. Just not her genre I guess. But dismissing its cinematography is quite ridiculous.

 

[Maledict]

The hate La La Land gets around here is unwarranted. It was a very charming movie with great performances, good musical numbers and an unexpectedly bittersweet ending. I didn't think it was pretentious at ALL. Could anyone who thinks that elaborate a bit? Is it because it was a musical? Does bursting into song and dance make stuff pretentious? I guess that makes almost every Bollywood movie in existence super pretentious!

Because, whilst it's a fun and enjoyable movie, it is by no means in any way the best movie of the year, it will be utterly forgotten about in two years time. It gets the praise from the industry that it's getting, and the awards, because it's a mastubatory story that basically says 'look how great we are'. Hollywood has an unfortunate habit of pushing films that aren't that amazing because they love films about movies themselves (hence why it's constantly described as a handjob film).

I mean, no offense, but comparing it to films that actually tried to *do* something, and used the medium in an interesting way like many of the other nominees did, is insulting in itself.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

some amount of salt in here around arrival lol

She should have been in the lead actress category, and when the studios put these actresses who are clearly the lead in the supporting category — like they did with [The Danish Girl's] Alicia Vikander last year, even though she had more lines than the guy [Eddie Redmayne] — that really irks me.

she's 100% right about this.

 

[T.O.P]

This reads like the ramblings of a 13 year old tumblr user.

Yup

 

[Spikematic]

Because, whilst it's a fun and enjoyable movie, it is by no means in any way the best movie of the year, it will be utterly forgotten about in two years time. It gets the praise from the industry that it's getting, and the awards, because it's a mastubatory story that basically says 'look how great we are'. Hollywood has an unfortunate habit of pushing films that aren't that amazing because they love films about movies themselves (hence why it's constantly described as a handjob film).

I mean, no offense, but comparing it to films that actually tried to *do* something, and used the medium in an interesting way like many of the other nominees did, is insulting in itself.

I'd argue that the whole "it will be forgotten in a few years" argument can apply to every other best picture nominee apart from Arrival, which I feel was definitely unique enough to stand out in the genre. In fact when compared to the other stuff, La La Land stands out simply because it's a very well put together musical that both looks and sounds great while the others are dramas, which we get plenty of every year.

I also don't agree with calling it mastubatory. To me the movie was more about the leads than the industry they were in. They explored both sides of said industry and definitely didn't paint it in a "we're so great" light. In fact, I'd argue that the ending

Spoiler

actually emphasizes the negative side of the industry as they sacrificed their relationships to further pursue their careers.

So yeah, I completely disagree with the "pretentious" and "mastubatory" verdicts. Was it the best movie of the year? I personally don't think so. For me it'd be Arrival or maybe Hacksaw Ridge. But I definitely don't mind the masses finding it as good as they do.

 

[Ampersands]

This year's Oscars are pretty unexciting. I honestly don't think any of the BP nominees were anywhere near the best film of the year.

Curious as to what you think was the best film of the year? I don't think there's a clear "best film" but the films nominated are pretty highly praised. Stuff like Arrival and Hell or High Water seem like dark horse picks that don't typically get nominated for Best Picture.

 

[Laieon]

But it's the kind of masturbatory Holywood film the Academy just loves. I think it was just ok. It's very flawed. Whiplash was a better film.

I think they're both great, but Lalaland touched me significantly more than Whiplash did. I definitely think Lalaland is the better of the two.

 

[StWilson85]

This year's Oscars are pretty unexciting. I honestly don't think any of the BP nominees were anywhere near the best film of the year.

You're wrong, but do elaborate. Unless you're going to say Deadpool, in which case just don't bother.

 

[Kinyou]

Not even considering arrival for cinematography? She really has a grudge

 

[andythinkpad]

I don't like Arrival either, this woman is already with me.

 

[SpideySenses]

It's funny that people say La La Land will be forgotten in a few years, compared to recent Oscar winners I think it stands a far better chance of staying relevant. It'll almost certainly be adapted to broadway and it did enough box office that unlike The Artist it should lead to more original musicals being made which people will trace back to to this movie.

 

[Spikematic]

It's funny that people say La La Land will be forgotten in a few years, compared to recent Oscar winners I think it stands a far better chance of staying relevant. It'll almost certainly be adapted to broadway and it did enough box office that unlike The Artist it should lead to more original musicals being made which people will trace back to to this movie.

Exactly. Well put.

 

[oneils]

Dios mio she's petty.

How is she supposed to vote for a movie she hasn't seen? It made sense to me.

 

[MattKeil]

Arrival hate already disqualifies her from having an opinion worth putting much weight behind, but the snide dismissals of Fences in every category is pure ignorance, and wanting to snub August Wilson for the screenplay? No.

"Wasn't adapted" my ass. Knowing not to fuck with genius is part of adaptation, even if the genius in question is your own. Nobody in Hollywood has written anything as good as Fences in the last quarter century. Give the man his fucking Oscar.

 

[beato_angelico]

"Did I tell I hated Arrival?"