due to incidents beyond my control at my place of employment my life has become a bit off balance and I have found little time to blog lately (that and single dad-hood for the past 4 days as Kristi had a girl's weekend with her sister and mom).
However, as I lay on our couch watching the Academy Awards, throwing my ballot in the garbage, disgusted with the picks I made (worst showing in the Oscar balloting ever- I have had 5 years of plus 90%- i am good at this), I am awakened from my blogging slumber by one of the most preposterous upsets ever.
This slug is motivated by the Best Foreign Film upset. Although I only saw 2 of the foreign film nominees this year (and all but 1 of the Best Picture nominees), I have a hard time accepting that any of them is better than Pan's Labyrinth.
Although I never blogged about it this year, PL was on a different plane than any other film of the year. It is almost unfair to compare it to any of the American films nominated. It is the best, most original film I have seen since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (and it may be better). The vision of Del Torro is wondrous. To capture the spirit of the Grimm Fairy Tales and to resist the temptation to sanitize such a story is incomprehensible to anyone that watches mainstream American film (oh, and the guts of the film's ending).
I cannot imagine the meeting of the Del Torro and his producers, "so, think Alice in Wonderland meets Schindler's List."Of course, he probably said it in Spanish.
Now, if Babel wins Best Picture I will be genuinely POed. It is the 3rd best film of the year by a Mexican Director, definitely not the best picture.
I will only be satisfied if Scorcese wins Best Director, although Paul Greengrass, the director of United 93 may have done the most gutsy job by an English Language director.
Each year I get excited by the Oscars, before remembering it is so staid and rarely celebrates the Best Movie of the Year.Then I watch it and stayed perpetually angry. I mean, did I really think any of the much better documentaries would beat An Inconvenient Truth (which was a good film and promoted a cause I fully support, but was not great film making)? Speaking of inferior films with a good message (but very preachy), how did Happy Feet win Best Animated Film? Oh yeah, Over the Hedge went unnominated and Cars sucked.
-great Melissa Etheridge won for the theme from An Inconvenient Truth. I guess next year Creed or Bon Jovi will win an Oscar for simplistic rhyme schemes and an overblown performance. Why do the worst songs win "Best Song" almost every year.
I mean Jack Johnson's theme from Curious George was good, as were some of Ben Fold's songs from Over the Hedge. Where was Devotchka from Little Miss Sunshine? Of course, the best song from the year was Shipping Up To Boston by The Dropkick Murphys in The Departed!
I may rant a bit more later
4 comments:
I agree on much of this. Melissa Etheridge got nominated only for the cause of global warming.
Pan's Labyrinth. Awesome film. Loved it. Am disappointed Guillermo Del Toro turned down the chance to direct the 6th Harry Potter film, pretty much guaranteeing that it will suck.
I'm glad Pan's won in more than one category, unlike Children of Men which won nothing - my pick of the year. While i'm cool with the fact that Pan's beat it for best cinematography, Children of Men was far better in this category.
I had Children of Men winning Cinematography. i thought it would win for 18 minutes climax alone.
but, i wanted PL to sweep every category it was nominated for.
I would put CoM in my top 5, but there were some plot issues I had with it. Kristi thought the plot was simplistic. Pick up girl take her to boat. I did not agree with that.
It did cause great debate and conversation between Kristi and I. I think it should have been reoleased a month earlier (it is not working well for movies to come out on Dec. 30 in 2 cities anymore).
totally agree on the release date. As far as the plot was concerned, i guess i wasn't thrown by its simplicity. It just seemed to work with me. the biggest question I had was why the world was suddenly sterile, but i guess it didn't matter.
yeah, the last sequence moved me to tears with some of its religious imagery. everyone silent as the miracle child cries out.
Rick- not sure what name appears with these comments but this is michael j. Sorry you think Cars sucks. After watching it a dozen times I am grateful my son has this movie at this point in his life considering mainstream animated features of the recent past. Cars actually has a pace that lets a simple story breathe and almost feel non-linear (you know it is meant for kids so it does go straight from point a to b). The story is actually good as is its message. Don't let "the cable guy" ruin it - have a little fun
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