• Variety moves deeper into the awards season features world with a Golden Globes preview. [Variety]
• Within said preview, yours truly spotlights actors and actresses straddling the line between comedy and drama this season. [Variety]
• Patrick Goldstein says make the Oscar nod announcement a prime time event like the Grammys. [The Big Picture]
• The 20 greatest movie car chases. “The Dark Knight” should be higher, but it’s hard to argue with #1. [The Times]
• Andrew O’Hehir wonders what’s behind the cult of “WALL-E.” Me too, frankly. [Beyond the Multiplex]
• Peter Bart dishes on the kudos season of chaos, but if he’s finally getting to Thursday’s botched “Button” screening, surely it’s time to put that story to bed, right? [Peter Bart]
• Speaking of “Button,” Karina Longworth is down on the film. [Spout Blog]
Comments
15 responses to “11/23 Oscarweb Round-up”
I have not seen ‘Benjamin Button’ yet. All I can do is read Karina Longworth’s blog on ‘Benjamin Button’ and understand what she’s saying.
I sure hope she’s wrong come Christmas Day. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into a hyped film like this with similar feelings coming out of it, as Ms. Longworth seems to have done with ‘this’ film.
um, so this is off topic but…does anybody know what seven pounds is about? the commercial doesnt really say anything.
I love Karina
JAB, “Seven Pounds” is about…
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
It’s about a guy who’s in some serious need of redemption, so he goes out and finds seven strangers in desperate need of organs, and he donated 7 organs, one for each person, to save their lives. Only problem is it’ll end his.
There is no question that the greatest movie car chase is the one in The Bourne Supremacy, no?
Why are they keeping that Seven Pounds plot under wraps anyway? It’s a bit ridiculous. Anyhow, the trailer makes much more sense now. Thanks English.
Yeah, but perhaps they just want it to be all the more shocking and surprising when you actually see it? Cause it’s kind of a disturbing idea, in a way, so it might make more of an impact if you don’t know it going in. Then again, a lot of people I’m sure will be turned off by it.
Gittes: Nah, Bullitt takes that list for me in a cake walk. I like Supremacy’s chase, but it doesn’t have the creativity of Bullitt, The French Connection or even Ronin.
I’m a huge fan of animation, and in my mind, WALL-E is the best animated film of all time (not to mention, the best film released this year).
I think it’s interesting how this film seems to polarize those who see it. All the people I’ve known personally who have watched it either agreed with my sentiments whole heartedly, or just really couldn’t warm up to it much at all.
Apparently, it’s one of those films people can agree to disagree on it’s merits. I think it’s the greatest animated romance of all-time.
Here’s the kicker for me: The main character, Jason Bourne, actually gets beat up. And his car, a shitty Russian taxi, is almost in pieces by the end of the chase. The chase in Supremacy seemed more “organic,” too, I guess. Though I’m not sure the continuity in Bullitt’s chase can be beat.
Let’s not forget the chase between Brolin and the drug dealers and the dog in No Country.
“All the people I’ve known personally who have watched it either agreed with my sentiments whole heartedly, or just really couldn’t warm up to it much at all.”
Meet the exception to your rule, McKay. I liked “WALL-E” a lot — I’d probably say it’s one of the better mainstream US films I’ve seen this year so far. (Not hard, admittedly.)
But I can’t entirely agree with your sentiments. Greatest animated film of all time? Not even close. “Bambi” and “Spirited Away,” for example, are in a whole different league for me.
So it is possible to fall in the middle on this.
(I try to cover everything about the issue with Wall-E, so this is a long post, just please stick with it)
Michael, I think it’s likely that people are thinking on completely different terms when it comes to Wall-E. Honestly, for the most part I believe it’s people like you (and I’m not at all saying this in an aggressive or angry tone), who think the film is one of the best of the year or the best animated film ever who bring on these negative reviews. It’s not necessarily a negative review, it’s more that people like us think it is kind of a good movie, somewhat cute and fairly entertaining for ninety minutes, but just don’t feel at all that this is anything special, which is what you and others make it out to be.
Notice that I used the word “us” in there because I am one of those people who think that the film is good, it’s just that it is highly overrated in terms of considering it for Best Picture or saying that it is one of the best of the year.
It is highly unfortunate, because I did somewhat enjoy the picture, that whenever I hear or read the title Wall-E, it automatically carries negative connotations with it for me stemming from the people who think that it is absolutely wonderful and magnificent.
I think that my theory also explains why a film like Wall-E is so well received by critics. There are some movies that nearly every critic gives a positive review for, yet most of them don’t consider it to be something too terribly special. Take for instance, currently on Rotten Tomatoes, Wall-E has a 96% approval rating, while A Clockwork Orange has a 90% approval rating from critics, yet I’m sure that nearly all of them would tell you that A Clockwork Orange is a much better movie and cinematic achievement than Wall-E. Personally, I think it is kind of hard NOT to like Wall-E and appreciate its creative little love story, so well over ninety percent of critics liking it doesn’t surprise me. However, for a completely off-beat and ambitious work such as A Clockwork Orange, it actually deals with more of what your personal taste is and it could even be seen as offensive vulgarity by a few people, hence its lower rating. Basically my argument is that there are some films that are easily likable by nearly everyone, yet that doesn’t necessarily mean that by any means they are great, simply because they don’t try to be anything classic. I think that it is possible and perfectly okay to give ‘Clockwork’ a negative review and give Wall-E a positive review, yet think that ‘Clockwork’ is a better movie. It is obvious that ‘Clockwork’ is attempting to be an important and relevant work of art, and if you feel that it doesn’t achieve that status, then you may give it a negative review. Yet Wall-E (which let’s be honest, while it can definitely be enjoyed by adults, is primarily geared for children), clearly doesn’t attempt to achieve the depth or grandeur of ‘Clockwork’, could easily be seen as perfectly achieving its goal, hence a positive review. However, when you completely disassociate the films with their goals, you could be validated in saying that A Clockwork Orange is actually a better movie.
But Michael and others, please don’t mistake this last paragraph as an attempt to point out a fallacy of Rotten Tomatoes ratings system. It’s not. Michael, I actually think that there are many more people like Guy and myself than you think; people who like the movie, just don’t absolutely love it. And I think that these negative reviews that you are hearing you misunderstand, in that they most likely stem from the people who merely like it questioning the people who preach the movie’s excellence.
And I’m sure that if history holds true to form, someone will come on hear and tell me that they in fact absolutely loathe and hate Wall-E, and to them I just say that it is statistically a fact that you are in the minority on your opinion.
(By the way, I think A Clockwork Orange achieves its goal and is one of the best films ever made, just had to let that be known)
Well said, Scott. I must say I do think “WALL-E” is a little bit special on its own terms — I just think people are awfully hasty to hand out “all-time” citations. As with all things in life, there are many degrees of love.
But, as I keep saying, each to their own.
I used to love Karina and respected her a lot. Karen and Alison Willmore went down several notches in my estimation when they succumbed to snarkiness instead of responsible criticism of Changeling and Angelina Jolie’s performance. They can despise the performance, the directing and the movie as much as they like – just don’t let down their readers by sinking to the level of 90% of the bloggers out there.
I agree with EW’s Owen Gleiberman that Ms. Jolie wasn’t given enough notes to play – her character didn’t have enough breathing room. Her work in Changeling wasn’t as exquisite as in A Mighty Heart, Gia and Girl, Interrupted. A Mighty Heart and Mystic River are better movies – still, I think this select group of naysayers are being overly harsh.
Let’s not forget the critics who liked Changeling and Ms. Jolie’s performance. My favorite: James Christopher of the Times (UK) – “I shall eat the next person who tells me that Angelina Jolie cannot act.â€
With her recent sneak peek into her previously embargoed review of CCBB, I wondered if Karina had caught the Jolie-Pitt Tabloid Syndrome. It seems to have crossed over into the mainstream these days.
The wonderful thing about WALL-E, to me, is that it represents this wonderful marriage between old and new. The film certainly harkens back ideas of silent movie love stories, but complements it with PIXAR’s well-established abilities in wit and animation. The hyperbole accompanying this movie — which, for full disclosure, also comes from me, who is calling it my movie of the year through 35 (or so) films — stems from this, I think.
This is where WALL-E stands above the rest of the Pixar family — I don’t think anybody can question its ambitions. Of course, some will find that the movie fell short of this, and others will think it accomplished it. It does inspire debate, though, and for an animated film, I think that says enough.