Comments | wertz: THE GAY SUPERBOWL

wertz

THE GAY SUPERBOWL

Mar 05, 2006 19:30

So Oscar night is here again. By default, the management of the Virgin Megastore Orlando Oscar competition has fallen to me - and I spent the whole of last evening collating and tabulating peoples' votes.

( For what it's worth, some of the results of the voting can be found behind the cut. )

movie madness, queerness, virginal

Comments 15

adjaime March 5 2006, 16:57:48 UTC

You almost make me wish I could stay awake through movies. :D

wertz March 5 2006, 21:39:48 UTC

hee hee hee

fargout March 5 2006, 21:04:40 UTC

wertz March 5 2006, 21:39:24 UTC

In short, loved the story, hated the adaptation. The directing was fine, the performances were passable, the cinematography was great, as was the score - but the screenplay sucked ass. I tend to rate screenwriters as equally important as directors to the success or failure of a film and, due to the writing, I felt the film failed - at least in terms of capturing the Proulx story. It was a great film on many levels, but not on one of the most fundamental: content.

fargout March 5 2006, 22:47:46 UTC

wertz March 6 2006, 00:33:19 UTC

One of the reasons that I liked Crash so much was that the writing was emblematic - that it wasn't the run-of-the-mill pseudo-naturalism that informs 97.5% of movies (and 99.9925% of mainstream movies). To me, the film was "epic" (in the Brechtian sense of the word) - didactic, anti-illusive, allowing us to be critical observers rather than voyeurs caught up in emotional drama. The use of coincidence (or synchronicity) was another Verfremdungs-effekt technique - similar to that employed in ancient Greek theater - again reminding us that what we are watching is contrived, intended to provoke thought and effect social change. Crash is an example of that rare artform: a dramatic work that targets our reason rather than our emotions.

In relation to Brokeback Mountain (which hasn't a chance in hell of provoking or effecting anything), if you check out my comments above, you'll note that every criticism of the film is based on the screenplay. My original review of the film similarly targets the writing as the weakest link (though I remain ( ... )

Thread 5

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wertz March 6 2006, 23:57:23 UTC

Enron wasn't bad at all, but I guess for me it was just a reiteration of stuff I already knew - and consequently I found it a bit tedious. I would gladly have seen it win over those goddamned penguins, though. :)

incendiarymind March 5 2006, 22:47:47 UTC

I also don't think it hurt "Crash" that Terrence Howard played a movie producer. So not only did they get to reward a movie about Hollywood in a way but also gave Terrence Howard the award he would have gotten in a different year on an unofficial basis (since, of course, the actors in a film don't get the little men).

Will win: March of the Fucking Penguins
Should win: Murderball

For me, this was a bit of a toss-up between Murderball and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Unfortunately, the best documentary iof the year (The Aristocrats) was not even nominated. Instead, I suspect the Academy will go with one of the worst films of the year - and one of the worst documentaries ever made.I couldn't have said that one better myself. I think the members of the Academy should be locked in a room with the Discovery Channel for 24 hours to see that "March Of The Penguins" does nothing to separate itself from made-for-cable tripe. In my mind "Murderball" was much better than "Enron." Though both are worlds better than the fucking ( ... )

fargout March 5 2006, 23:02:21 UTC

incendiarymind March 5 2006, 23:24:35 UTC

Agreed that all of the conservative Academy voters pushed "Penguins" over the top.

"Grizzly Man" was, in my opinion better than "Enron" but still not as good as "Murderball." My only real problem with "Grizzly Man" was that Werner Herzog seemed to want to be too much of a character. There's nothing that bothers me more in a documentary than when the narrator starts passing judgments. It's why Michael Moore's movies and me don't always get along as well as some (I tend to give his movies three stars even though I totally agree with him on the basis of his self-aggrandizing).

Herzog spent the whole second half of the movie emphasizing that he disagrees with Treadwell. I was just saying to myself, "shut up Werner, this isn't your story." Still "Grizzly Man" was powerful filmmaking and deserved "Penguins" spot pure nature-themed documentary v. nature-themed documentary.

My actual favorite documentary of 2005 was "Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price" but that didn't have a theatrical release so wasn't eligible.

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wertz March 6 2006, 23:54:37 UTC

Yeah. I mean, I like Reese Witherspoon - but, seriously, this was not an Oscar caliber performance.

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wertz March 8 2006, 20:37:07 UTC

Yeah. It's silliness.