2012-01-24
An Oscar Reply
Seriously, though, last year was a parade of remarkable films; that’s not something you would conclude from these nominations.
War Horse???? It’s ET with a horse. Horse runs home.
Midnight in Paris? It’s a postcard extended to two hours.
Moneyball? A baseball movie where the audience’s attention span is the only meaningful antagonist.
Tree of Life: There’s a reason why the best movies tell stories. Visual poetry that’s more than two hours needs to be serialized.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: Schtick.
What a disappointing year for film-making.
What about the stuff that didn’t get nominated? More along the lines of Tree of Life as beautiful, heartbreaking films - but ones with more of a narrative - there are Melancholia and Norwegian Wood (although I don’t know if the latter counts for 2011, and it may fall into the Foreign Film ghetto anyway). Drive was a little flawed but definitely interesting and well made. Charlize Theron was unfairly overlooked for Best Leading Actress for Young Adult (although I accept it probably didn’t deserve a Best Film nomination), and although Gary Oldman represents Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the nominations for him and for Best Adapted Screenplay are far from enough recognition for that picture.
Perhaps it’s not so much a disappointing year for films as a(nother) case where you shouldn’t trust the MPAA to be your guide in what to see.
(via joshuanguyen)
