Best of all, the fall season means that it's officially time to start speculating Oscar. Of course, it's an yearly ongoing discourse. Bloggers and movie fans briefly sojourn in a state of sickened exhaustion after the Oscars take place, barely taking time to return to a state of normalcy before Sundance comes along and revs them back up. But most early speculation consist of potshots. I came across an Oscar prediction article in April (for God's sake) that predicted The American to win Best Picture for 2011. (Er, just to put it out now and forever, any movie that has the competent but uninteresting Mr. Clooney as its leading man will never win Best Picture. He's charismatic but also an emotional vacuum, and there's always an overly-complacent vagueness to his charm that counteracts any force of conflict of depth. Hence, it's difficult to be invested in him. We like 'em outlandish)
*Dammit! I really did lose half this blog entry. Quick re-write:
September deaths: RIP Sally Menke, editor and MVP to Quentin Tarantino. She was a hero of mine, especially during a short period briefly back when I wanted to become a film editor. Her untimely and tragic death already sparked whispers about whether Tarantino can retain the same level of quality without her. I think he can, but all the same, it's surely a creative and personal blow for him. Menke left big shoes to fill.
Wonderfully funny and (now sad) tradition QT did for Sally Menke:
RIP to Tony Curtis and Gloria Stuart as well.
"The Social Network" marks the beginning of real-time Oscar season, especially with the reviews nearing a hysterical peak. It only makes me more anxious for this to be a Great Movie. Please let it reinvigorate the movie industry into writing great dialogue again, and please let it mark the auspicious beginnings of a better movie decade than the last.
September trailers amp up the growing Oscar excitement: The King's Speech, and True Grit.
Love the song. Love the unknown girl they picked, especially her deliberate line delivery. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is so finally winning his due with this.
Audience members who have already seen it at Toronto are falling over themselves left and right to assure people that it's much better than its pandering trailer. Will rightfully cement Colin Firth's status as one of the best actors of his generation, and perhaps begin a career revival for the unfailingly great Helena Bonham-Carter (no, Harry Potter and her husband's bad movies don't really count, though she was awesome in them).
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ReplyDeleteColin Firth was fantastic in A Single Man last year, but I do think that Bridges deserved the best actor Oscar for that year. But let's see if Firth can get it this year? The Social Network doesn't come out until October 15, but I'm definitely intrigued if it will live up to the hype.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I had the how many PMs can you name conversation with my flatmates tonight haha. In the end it was like five for me (Russia, France, UK, North Korea, & Cuba). I do agree with you that I can't be a hypocrite in criticizing Europeans for not knowing my country when I hardly know theirs. But the thing is I don't pretend to for the most part, if I remember something specific about a country then I'll bring it up in conversation with a person from that country or if I don't I will gladly try and learn something about their country. I don't make stupid judgments regardless or I hope I don't. I think a lot of people take cheap shots at America b/c its such a LOUD country and therefore easy to mock. However I can't figure out how to defend my country and therefore myself, because I can't let them yammer on, but I don't want to prove their stereotype of arrogant Americans. Regardless I find myself a lot more defensive and patriotic than usual. That's because half of the rude statements here start out as (ok context: one of my flatmates is Australian, in Australia they have compulsory voting) and she said, "I don't understand why you wouldn't have compulsory voting!" It's the whole "I don't understand why you aren't like me" narrowminded argument, which I have to defend. I'm trying to deal with it, but its get rough.
Stella, I didn't think you were attacking me at all. You always leave very well written and well thought out comments and generally we all use the word "you" to mean "one" not necessarily you as an individual so I get that you weren't calling me out there. But I thought I would just elaborate on my current cultural conundrum by replying in your comments box. Btw, sometimes I do check back on your comments because I've noticed you respond through them, but I must admit, its a tad easier when you just respond via my comment box haha
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that college has not been as groundbreaking and wonderful as I expected it to be. I'm not sure what I was expecting to be honest. I mean I know my romantic delusions about love come from film, TV, and books, but there hasn't been one source that has really influenced my view on college. Still I idealized college before I went and of course that perfect picture has mostly gone up in smoke as I realized that I traded one set of issues for another when I went from HS to college. I've never missed my HS (okay sometimes the routine of it), but I do miss my home state sometimes more than I thought I would. But this is why these fish out of water experiences are crucial for growing up and understanding who you are and your place in the world. They may not be fun at the time, but they're worth it.