Yay Oscar!

[dangermousie]

Oscar Noms came out and I've seen people be really upset that The Dark Knight did not get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director.

I might be in the minority, but I was rather indifferent to TDK: it was a good enough movie but I prefer Batman Begins, or, of this year's superhero movies, Iron Man (so delish!), much more to the quasi-artsy but ultimately empty dourness of TDK. The more I thought about that movie, the less I liked it. It wouldn't make my Top 10 of 2008 in...ever, so I am actually quite happy that it didn't get nommed despite making a gajillion bucks.

Comments

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only one who felt that way! It was an entertaining movie, not a masterpiece.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

I honestly think practically every part of Batman Begins was better. For Heath, I understand the praise (and firmly believe he would have still received it, regardless of his death), but as far as the movie goes as a whole? It's not the masterpiece the critics and much of the audience made it out to be. Also, I liked Katie Holmes MUCH better than Maggie Gyllenhaal (whom I really do not like at all), so I'm definitely in the minority there! :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Agreed - BB was so much better.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Having seen TDK recently, I consider it a good, above-average crime thriller but not anything particularly extraordinary much less a masterpiece. The main reason why I think it made so much money is that it was one of the few films last year--aside from Iron Man--that had clear lines between good and evil and faith in the basic decency of people, even if it had to resort to the Prisoner With The Heart O' Gold stereotype to pull it off ;). It also had a lot of explosions.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

True. Very true.

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

I think the Dark Knight was a great movie, but it fell far short of the other nominated films. The reality of the Oscars is that action films often fall short as they often sacrifice all the brilliance that make up the other films for the action.

The movies nominated for best picture are all such clever and amazing films, that to compare The Dark Knight with them seems a little stupid.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup -- people really lose track of what TDK really is, here.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

LOL, you may be in the minority, but you are definitely entitled to independent thought.

My main objection to the lack of nominations in terms of Best Picture or Best Director is that this movie was hyped SO MUCH. Very few movies would actually have been able to justify the amount of viral online activity and excitement that it generated over the few months prior to its release. And somehow, it also impressed critics and the majority of the public. I'm not saying in terms of the fact that it is 'the best film ever made' or something like that, but if you think of what it had to live up to, and realise that it managed to achieve that for most people - that is pretty epic. So in terms of that, I feel that Nolan was perhaps a little undermined. I can let 'best picture' slide as there are some strong(ish) contenders this year.

I'm most pleased about Frost/Nixon getting noticed. I doubt it will pull anything in, but I thought it was excellent. I'm annoyed Michael Sheen didn't get nominated even though Frank Langella did. I much prefered Sheen's performance actually.

And of course Kate Winslet. Who better win, damn it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Nolan is a good director but I think he can't write or direct women well at all, so it detracts from his movies for me. As to hype - true, though I think it's sad that living up to the hype is the exception rather than the rule :)

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is so easy for a film to get overhyped these days.

You do have a point about Nolan's women though - they feature little in the Batman films, and in The Prestige; they seem to be merely there as tools or motivation for the men. Although to be fair, the women in the book version of The Prestige weren't particularly assertive.

I think Carrie-Anne Moss' character in Memento was a pretty good female character, but I don't know if that was Nolan's screenplay or just his directing. That does seem to be the exception to the rule though. That said, I would like to see Nolan do something perhaps LESS psychologically challenging and see how he fares.

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

I feel indifferent to its nomination status (more worried about Slumdog, which better WIN! :D) but I do think Heath deserves the nom and even a win. Not because of his passing, but because he was what elevated that movie above and beyond the norm. Nothing else.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

SLUMDOG!!!!!!!!!!!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Haha. I still haven't bothered to see it. My roommate went and saw the Riff Trax of it at a friend's not that long ago. She said she's pretty sure we would have been bored silly in the theatre, and that the RT was the only thing making it watchable.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I saw it once and I am easily distracted by explosions so it was OK but I have no desire to rewatch.

[om-shakti.livejournal.com]

I only watched it because the boy made me, and i was not impressed. Like, even Heath's role. It was pretty cool, but if there hadn't been the hype i wouldnt have gotten that excited. Why is everyone so excited when an actor actually acts well? Thats what they are supposed to do. I wasn't moved or anything, though if i would have met him i would have been like "Dude you did awesome!"

The movie was boring to me. I had to bust out my laptop and play on there while it was on so i didn't fall asleep.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, exactly.

[bae-mac.livejournal.com]

You're not alone dear.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I can't even work up the interest in watching it, though it is in my Netflix queue. Admittedly, a large chunk of that is that it's essentially been admitted that they deliberately made it so that the character that got me to ever give DC Comics my money in the first place will never have an active role in the series.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Which character is that?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Oracle. She's Gordon's daughter (wee lil girl in the movies, though she should be around puberty) who idolizes Batman and eventually styles herself as "Batgirl" and becomes a superhero herself. Years later, she opens the door at home and gets shot in the gut by Joker and paralyzed for life. At which point, she learns how to fight from her wheelchair even though she can't be an active superhero anymore, and creates an information network for the heroes. Think Logan Cale, only on a global scale.

And she was a librarian.

It's essentially been admitted that they cast her so young because they wanted to avoid the "main" Bat-characters and focus on the lesser known ones (despite that all the villains so far are major characters) so they made her so young that this Batman will be retiring by the time she's old enough to be Batgirl.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Word. TDK is massively overhyped and far from flawless but the fanboys are so into it, they probably consider this an outrage of epic proportion. *shrug*

With that said, I hate the stereotypical Oscar nom'ed films that don't get a release until the Oscars are just around the corner (Feb, maybe even after the Oscars!) in Finland. I'd love to have an opinion on some of these movies, especially Milk & Slumdog but no go unless I go pirate them.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Even in the US, some movies get released on Dec 31 which is pretty techincal as for being in the right year :)