but it´s not completely animated….I has to be filmed. As I said I am not an expert and I also prefer traditional camera work. but maybe the academy wanted not to honor lightning this time but a new way of camerawork, dealing with digital backgrounds and perspectives. I mean there has to be something because Mauro Fiore was also a nominee in other competitions. I really wished they had shown a short clip at the oscars and not only naming the nominees and the winner. when I first recognizes avatar a nominee for best cinematography I was really surprised….and now I am really longing to know why
My issue isn’t that it’s digital. My issue is that most of the “scenes” and “shots” in the film are created in the visual effects department, not by the DP. While there may be digital touch ups to something like The White Ribbon, all of the shots and scenes were created before the camera.
guys denying avatar the award fpr best cinematography is backwards thinking….I also like traditional camera work more….BUT what do WE know? It´s another camera technique. Mauro Fiore needs to deal with a completely new style of camera work. I am no expert in this field but it could be well-deserved.
and just for information. “The White Ribbon” (winner of several camera prizes) is more digital than you may think. It was filmed in color, than turned into black and white, and dozens of secenes where faces weren´t clear and the light was not strong enough haven been changed digitally.
you´re absolutely right wesley….my problem with slumdog millionaire was its horrible ending. Boyle gave us a critical image of India but in the end he doesn´t have the balls to continue in the end…..NO he gave her a kiss on her scar, the brother has to die to recover what he did to the other brother, ad then everybody is dancing and the world is fine again.
hi wesley, im writing from australia… first up, i like the site (newly discovered prior to this year’s oscars). i think it’s good you and your mates have opinions…it creates good debate! im a movie fan and not an industry person but here is my 2c worth about some of the points ive read…
i have to say i thought avatar was a superb cinematic experience but thought hurt locker was a really good film – loved the intensity. inglorious basterds was also a better ‘film’ than avatar but avatar was far and away the best spectacle and entertainment. totally agree on the cinematography thing though…how did avatar get that?!?!?
i saw deer hunter last year for the first time and really found it average and slow. hard to believe im saying that considering who starred in it!?! but hurt locker probably wont be as relevant or revered in 30 years either…maybe the ‘dating’ thing is spot on.
i havent seen crash or brokeback mountain – both are on my list to be seen – but there is no doubt that brokeback has had better longevity….far more people i know talk about it vs crash.
as a general point – to me the best movies are ones you can watch over and over and for different reasons…the acting; or the story; or the action; or the way it resonates with you etc. some movies are good once but i wouldnt rush out to see them again…like any of the pirates of the caribbean series. whereas i have seen each of the lord of the rings series at least half a dozen times.
for the record braveheart is right up there in my all time faves but it’s still not gladiator!
Hi Wesley, I’ve been following your site/blog for a couple of years and though I don’t agree with everything you say, I certainly think you have interesting opinions.
Quote:
“Let’s also remember that Slumdog Millionaire 8 Oscars last year. It was hugely popular with the Academy and some considered it the year’s best, but so far not many have really looked back fondly on the film.”
I’m not sure who you meant when you say ‘not many’. Most of the people I know (both commercial and arthouse film buffs) do remember Slumdog fondly and were in agreement that it well-deserved its Oscar last year. The other film that people seemed to remember well was ‘Milk’. I recall reading that you love ‘Benjamin’ but I haven’t talked to anyone that liked it that much.
In any case, I (and my friends) do agree with you about Braveheart. It was a terrible best picture winner. cheers
Wesley: “And Braveheart is ranked 87 on the list at IMDB. Yet, no one I know remembers it fondly or even respects it as a Best Picture choice. And the dialogue regarding the film has faded a lot. If you mention the film’s name, people remember it, but if you ask people to name their favorite films, Braveheart rarely ever gets mentioned. The same goes for The Deer Hunter. Time has a way of forgetting that which does not leave an indelible impression. Despite losing Best Picture, Brokeback Mountain is still mentioned frequently. Crash? It’s only mentioned in relation to the fact that it beat Brokeback Mountain.”
That may be true, but one thing I’ve learned is that when people like us talk outside of our film group circles to the general masses, the conversations become reversed. Brokeback Mountain is not as well liked and Braveheart is very near and dear to a lot of people. I’m fairly sure that for every person that you have talked to that has disliked Braveheart, I can think of about five people off of the the top of my head that list it as one of their favorite movies.
As far as The Hurt Locker is concerned, I think it will age well because of the fact that it refused to make a typical “war statement” and just let it be a character portrayal of soldiers who become addicted to the adrenaline rush of war. Anyone who has ever known people who have grown up on Playstation and games like Call of Duty knows that this kind of character portrayal is very resonating. Personally, I would have voted for Inglorious Basterds because it is just a celebration of everything cinematic and everything good about Tarantino’s style. It’s tense, it’s well crafted, it’s uncomfortably hilarious and it is uncompromisingly unlike any other World War II film that has ever been made. The Hurt Locker is a worthy runner up in my opinion and Avatar would have to come behind Up in the Air, Up and District 9 for me, but it is still a cinematic event that makes seeing a movie in the theater something special, which we haven’t seen in a long time and for that alone, I give it credit.
As for the show itself, it was not very good at all. There were aspects I liked, such as Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number and the idea of a duo as clever as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. But overall, the treatment of each of the technical categories was downright insulting. Visual Effects, Make-Up, Costumes and Set Design were awesome as always, but when it comes to the songs, I like to see them performed all of the way through, for sound, I like to see clips of the movies showing off their sound work, maybe even a nice Behind the Scenes for Sound Effects to show how they were created. But Film Editing and Cinematography were just wasted. We could see a snippet of the way something was lit like during the 2006 awards or for Film Editing, we usually see the cutaways and the final product. Then there was that God-awful dance sequence. When they started doing the robot to Up, I got up and left just so I could picture better images other than the crap I saw. The Academy should have learned their lesson from back in 1998 when dancers came out on stage tap dancing to Saving Private Ryan. Memo to the academy: no more dance routines.
I believe The Hurt Locker is a great film, mostly because is a film about Irak that manages not to say anything political about the situation there.
It’s just soldiers doing their jobs and everybody wants to leave except jeremy Renner’s character. Because he’s gotten used to what he’s good at. I don’t think that War is a Drug. I think we can only be happy with doing what we’re good at, and sometimes what we do is so dangerous we put other people in danger without us knowing.
I think what makes the movie imperfect is that’s just a character study. A very well written and directed character study, but nothing more. No other character is developed and there’s no more than the initial message. That’s why probably Avatar or Up in the Air or even Inglourious Basterds normally win best picture in the oscars.
I think what will eventually bear out is this: In 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars both released. One was obviously more successful than the other, but even today they are both well remembered. And I would guess that outside of Star Wars fanboys, Close Encounters ranks higher in most estimations than Star Wars.
And Blade Runner was not positioned very well back in the ’80s and while some have faulted problems with the film, there is no denying it has become something of an important film in science fiction.
Thank you for that eloquent analysis. I agree entirely with everything you said. And I think you’re directly on the money with your analysis of Jeremy Renner’s character, Ssgt. James.
I agree The Hurt Locker has more in common with Platoon than The Deer Hunter. Both The Hurt Locker and Platoon are on the ground looks at men in war, written by men who were there – Oliver Stone was a soldier in Vietnam and Mark Boal spent time embedded in Iraq.
The Deer Hunter, though certainly a more realistic depiction of the Vietnam War than its Oscar competition, Coming Home, had problems that were obvious from the get-go: the extreme length, the too long pre-war scenes and the shocking Russian Roulette sequences, extremely effective dramatically, but as fake as anything in Inglourious Basterds and extremely racist in retrospect.
The film’s reputation was further damaged by Heaven’s Gate, director Michael Cimino’s follow-up fiasco which caused numerous critics to wonder if they hadn’t overpraised his earlier film.
Another Oscar winner that The Hurt Locker compares favorably to is The Best Years of Our Lives, still the definitive film about soldiers returning to an indifferent world after war had changed them. The difference was that at the end of World War II, the returning soldiers had no option other than to find their niche in civilian life. At the end of The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner’s character has been so desensitized by his time in Iraq that he can’t relate to even the simplest everyday things like deciding which cereal to buy. Unlike Dana Andrews and company in The Best Years of Our Lives, however, he has the option of returning to war, his drug of choice. It’s as horrific an ending as if he would have died or worse, killed someone else.
“I didn’t hate The Hurt Locker, but Hurt Locker doesn’t have anything really important to say except that war is a drug.”
The problem with your approach to the movie is your interpretation that this is all the film had to say. The reason why it’s a great film, and why it not only won Best Picture, but why it won’t just be forgotten, or fade into obscurity, is because its message is deeper than just that. It’s true, that’s one of the overriding messages of the film, but it encompasses so much more. Just looking at the character of Eldridge makes that clear to my mind.
I agree about Crash, and agree it never should have won. As for Avatar, the reason it won’t fade into obscurity is because it made over $2 billion at the box office. It’s also interesting that you feel District 9 won’t fade into obscurity, but contend that The Hurt Locker will. I liked District 9, a lot. I thought it was a very good film, but if we’re talking about simply looking back on recent memory and judging, District 9 has definitely lost some of its original “glory” so to speak. I see people speaking less highly of the film than they used to, regularly. I disagree, but… Just saying.
We’ll see where things go and what happens, but I see Platoon as a better comparison to The Hurt Locker than The Deer Hunter.
there were many reasons The Hur Locker won…I totally agree with Wesley in the female director and the support for “small” films . Another reason is dealing with the Iraq-Trauma….and her lies the obvious weakness of that movie. While the film is excellently dealing with the feelings of the soldiers and absolutely NOT glorifies anything it too much ignores the other side…..what about the people which have to live in that situation since so many years and for years to come? It´s not like there are people at every corner which want to spark a bomb. I also know that this is what the movie is about….but its makes you feel that there is no normal life. I know this culture and people and their worries. I wished the film would have been a bit more than a self-therapy.
…..to the rest: there have been no surprises (maybe except the screenplay awars for precious…and I was really happy about that). I absolutely hated these dancers trying to show somethng like a choreopraphy. I was a bit surprised about the foreign language award… watched all of them, and although it´s a bit dry Germany´s White Ribbon was the best of them.
I agree with you on how the future will depart for these movies.
But I disagree with you saying that this year movies fell short on expectations, I find this year to be an amazing year for movies.
These are my favorite of the year in no particular order, some are better than others, some are personal taste (like ponyo or secret of kells).
500 Days of Summer
A Serious Man
An Education
Avatar
Broken Embraces
District 9
Drag Me To Hell
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Inglorious Basterds
Moon
Ponyo
Precious
Star Trek
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
The Messenger
The Road
The Secret of Her Eyes
The Secret of Kells
The White Ribbon
This is It
Two Lovers
Up
Up in the Air
Watchmen
World’s Greatest Dad
And I have yet to see A Single Man and The Last Station to see if they deserve to enter this list.
The Broadway Melody was well liked at the time, so was You Can’t Take It With You. Yet, most people, except Oscarphiles, don’t even know what these films are. And, they’ve aged poorly. Slumdog Millionaire is an of-the-moment film. It’s popularity drove it to success.
And Braveheart is ranked 87 on the list at IMDB. Yet, no one I know remembers it fondly or even respects it as a Best Picture choice. And the dialogue regarding the film has faded a lot. If you mention the film’s name, people remember it, but if you ask people to name their favorite films, Braveheart rarely ever gets mentioned. The same goes for The Deer Hunter. Time has a way of forgetting that which does not leave an indelible impression. Despite losing Best Picture, Brokeback Mountain is still mentioned frequently. Crash? It’s only mentioned in relation to the fact that it beat Brokeback Mountain.
When you look at all the war and anti-war films over the decades, you can see how frequently award-winning films are forgotten. They feel important at that time, but when looked at from a historical perspective, they aren’t.
I’m just saying considering historical precedent, Slumdog and Hurt Locker are very likely to be forgotten compared to other films from those years. People will remember Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Up and District 9 for decades to come because they have a timelessness about them and fit into genres that have strong fanbases whose recollections are vast. War films fanatics don’t tend to have long memories and they are more likely to remember something like Saving Private Ryan than something like The Hurt Locker.
No, we can’t know for sure how history will remember it, but this is my perception of things as they stand.
As far as remembering goes, I remember all the Oscar winners – some fondly, some not so fondly.
The Hurt Locker is the first winner I considered Best Picture of the year since Million Dollar Baby. It’s not that it’s a great movie so much as everything else this year fell short of expectations. How it’s remembered depends a lot on what happens next. Will it usher in a new era of little movies winning awards over blockbusters? Will it help the careers of its director and stars?
They gave an Oscar to Marty in part because they wanted to make a statement that a movie doesn’t need to be big, photographed in the latest widescreen process and glorious technicolor to be good. The following year they nominated only blockbusters, Around the World in 80 Days; Friendly Persuasion; Giant; The King and I and The Ten Commandments and gave the award to the biggest blockbuster among them, Around the World in 80 Days.
Everybody I know loved the movie, is a combo movie with everything eveybody loves in it.
I agree with you, the oscars gave the award for best picture to The Hurt Locker for a statement of supporting small films. But I ask you, the guilds, the bafta and many other awards loved the hurt locker and you know, more than anybody, many of them disagree regarding the best picture award. Do you think they also wanted to support an irak movie with a message that war is a drug and it’s a small film?.
I think Maybe the producers guild are on par with the academy but the bafta giving the prize over their favorite movie “an education”?.
My real question to you is: how can we see if a movie is remembered well? which criteria do we use?
Crash is still remembered, but it wasn’t because it was a great movie. It was remembered because of what it beat.
I’m not saying Hurt Locker will be “forgotten”…it’s like The Deer Hunter or Wings, movies that captured the imagination at the period, but which don’t age particularly well. Not that they were bad movies. I didn’t hate The Hurt Locker, but Hurt Locker doesn’t have anything really important to say except that war is a drug. This isn’t Platoon or All Quiet on the Western Front.
The reason The Hurt Locker won, I feel, was more because Hollywood wanted to show that we’re not against supporting small films and we’re not going to be bullied into recognizing blockbusters just because it draws the ratings.
Hell, The Messenger is a better war movie than The Hurt Locker and it wasn’t even nominated. So, The Hurt Locker isn’t, to me, the best war film even of the year, let alone the decade.
But even if it is remembered, it will likely only be because Kathryn Bigelow was the first female director to win, not because the film was great. And No Country’s prestige isn’t nearly as high as one would believe. There Will Be Blood is regularly mentioned as the better film of that year, so although it is remembered, it’s not remembered as fondly as the other films around it.
Let’s also remember that Slumdog Millionaire 8 Oscars last year. It was hugely popular with the Academy and some considered it the year’s best, but so far not many have really looked back fondly on the film.
I’m been happy with the results, it was 90% what I (we?) predicted.
I have a few gripes though
Awards:
Cinematography: Avatar. I was really shocked, as you say, it seems the academy doesn’t know what cinematograhpy is. The White Ribbon, Harry Potter, Basterds have amazing cinematography. Avatar is too digital so the camera doesn’t do much with real light.
Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker. I liked the honored the amazing sound design, but sound editing was much more important with the sounds of pandora in avatar. I think the oscars just wanted a movie that sweeps.
Adapted Screenplay: Precious. I’m so resentful to the academy for this selection. Up in the air was snubbed so bad they didn’t honor it with the only award it could win and what is the best screenplay of the year (the golden globes and the guids agree on this)
Show:
Regarding the show, I think alec baldwin and steve martin were great, their jokes seem to fit every moment, the paranormal activities bit was hilarious.
The dance in the score award was nice and refreshing, it showed a modern art in sync with this year’s best music in movies.
The dance beggining with Neil Patrick Thomas was boring, nothing new or exciting.
They didn’t let the songs be sung. What the hell was that?, songs are a tradition in the oscars and I would’ve liked to see the performances. I believe the time it took to present the 10 nominees had taken time for the song performances. That’s an Insult.
In general the show was ok. Nothing amazing but nothing really bad. There were good speeches and even though I did not want Sandra Bullock to win her speech was very ladylike, she’s an amazing person and I won’t include her in my least favorite winners in this category like Julia Roberts. Like Audrey Hepburn, this is the way to win an oscar based on popularity. She even won worst actress in the razzies for All About Steve.
To Wesley: Every man has his opinion but dude, I completely disagree with you, The Hurt Locker is one of the best war movies in the last 20 years and the oscars needed a contemporary war movie to win. It may not be as remembered as Inglourious Basterds or Avatar or Up. I think this year is like Titanic year with the difference that it was L.A. Confidential who won.
You’ll see this movie will be remembered, We’ll talk in 5 years jeje.
I completely disagree. The Hurt Locker won’t be forgotten. And in fact, as I can see, some of the previous winners of the decade won’t soon be forgotten, either. Like No Country for Old Men, a film that to this day is still considered great.
I’m glad The Hurt Locker won. It was one of the, if not the (in my opinion) best film of the year. The fact that Hollywood ignored its financial mind and voted from its heart is a true testament that sometimes, they actually DO get it right. I couldn’t have been happier in that regard.
But honestly, how do we know what will be watched 50 years from now? How do we know what will still be regarded as “great”? Those things change. The relevancy of some films diminish, or change. But The Hurt Locker is, in my opinion, one of those rare films whose message will endure. There’s a reason that, despite its minimal release and box office draw, it continued to capture people’s attention.
That’s what this decade has been about. A number of films most people won’t remember in 50 years. To bring up Casablanca in the same sentence as The Hurt Locker seems ludicrous. Perhaps it should be mentioned in the same phrase as The Deer Hunter? Same number of syllables, etc…
But, seriously, I’ve been less impressed with the winners in this category than I have in nearly any other…though, I really wish they’d learn what Cinematography is…and it’s just not a pretty picture.
Below are the winners of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
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