AVATAR shoulda WON!!! WTF??

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Avatar is Movie of the Year by a LANDSLIDE & Best Movie of the Last Hundred Years if ya ask me!!!!
The Hurt Locker is a 2 on a 5 scale. Not worth mentioning or even seeing!
The Oscars are now demoted to Grammys insignificance for being SO wrong.

Zoe Saldana is Best Actress too! 

[Deathshead]

I guess it goes against the grain to award a sci-fi movie done in all CGI...

[Chaser001]

That is true.  Science fiction movies rarely get full credit at the Oscars.  Why?  Because there seems to be some kind of arrogant attitude among some people that sci-fi isn't sophisticated enough I guess.    

[Pilgrim]

I haven't seen Hurt Locker yet.

If Avatar was best picture of the year last year, then each one of the Lord of the Rings movies should have been best picture when it came out.  Avatar was a fine movie, but not necessarily a slam-dunk winner. It deserved an Oscar for special effects, but the story line, although moving and enjoyable, has been done many times in a variety of iterations.

[eb2]

I saw Hurt Locker and was happy it did well. It was a good character film and it was brutal without getting into your typical Hollywood preachy stuff.  I don't know if it was any better than the others in any particular way - maybe a lesser flick than Crazy Heart - but it was certainly deserving.

I thought Avatar was a very fun movie to watch, but if I had to guess why it didn't win best picture it would probably be that it had a combination of things going against it.  First, it was at best a formulaic movie, and at worst you could say it was a late 60s style western morality flick with the Indians turned into blue giant people.  The whole noble savage thing was a little much, and when it comes to depth and intellect James Cameron isn't going to run away with anything.  Secondly, the main characters were computer animated.  That was spectacular, but at the end of the day they ain't real.  So, with the academy tending reward craft and also tending to try to feel good about themselves, they went with the war flick that had real people in it vs the Cowboys and Indians in Space flick. 

[nofi]

i always like it when human actors beat out cartoons.

as far as hurtlocker goes i heard an interview with real bomb squad soldiers who regard it as a joke. so unrealistic it's funny.

[Chaser001]

I haven't seen Avatar, but have heard really good things about it.  I haven't heard much about The Hurt Locker.  It doesn't sound particularly interesting, though. 

[Deathshead]

i always like it when human actors beat out cartoons.

as far as hurtlocker goes i heard an interview with real bomb squad soldiers who regard it as a joke. so unrealistic it's funny.

I don't know if I'm in the minority here, or if its just me or what, but I have absolutely NO interest in the Avatar movie at all, It just does nothing for me the story is Pocahontas with changed character names, and the rest is just all CGI, Im so sick of CGI its too easy and cheap to produce, like reality tv.

[Aussie Mark]

I haven't seen Hurt Locker, but plan on doing so, despite the apparent inaccuracies as far as some Vets are concerned (other Vets have said it's well done).

I really enjoyed Avatar, the 3D version is a visual feast and absolutely spectacular.  Sure, the story line is not original and is totally predictable, but visually it was amazing, regardless of whether it was "real people" or CGI.

Like it or not, the Oscars are very political - any movie about a war that the US is currently fighting will always go close to winning, because of sentiment.  Same story with the film that won it's category - the one about a dolphin slaughter in Japan - the anti whaling sentiment is running high at the moment, so was a great opportunity to stick it to the Japanese.

[eb2]

Like it or not, the Oscars are very political - any movie about a war that the US is currently fighting will always go close to winning, because of sentiment.  Same story with the film that won it's category - the one about a dolphin slaughter in Japan - the anti whaling sentiment is running high at the moment, so was a great opportunity to stick it to the Japanese.

As far as The Cove, the concept of being anti-whaling is a no brainer for the academy, but they would be horrified at being seen as anti-Japanese.  The Hollywood mindset is one in which they view themselves as being morally superior to pretty much anyone who embraces any social political or religious thought that would be disagreeable to the average theater major.  Voting for The Cove would be a way of helping the Japanese be able to see how flawed they are by whaling.  Asians are good, but any practices that would not fly in Hollywood are something they need to be educated about.  I believe what you are saying about the Hurt Locker is that they are so suffocatingly pacifist, that any war movie where the main character is more or less unbalanced feeds their vibe, so I agree that they would like that.  Beyond that sentiment, it is a well done flick.  If you support the Iraq war, you would not walk out feeling you had sat through a Michael Moore movie.  If you thought is was a horrid idea from the get go, you wouldn't change your mind, or really think about that a lot during the movie.

I was happy that Jeff Bridges won, as that was a great performance, and a well done movie. The music was authentic and good, and it just had to be good enough to keep up with the effort.  Ok the Tommy Sweet stuff was a bit too easy.  But it was great.

I haven't seen Precious, but I don't know that I ready to sit through anything that harrowing. I need to see the Blind Side eventually. The general feedback on it was she did a great character, but the flick was a bit syruppy.

[Barklessdog]

First, it was at best a formulaic movie, and at worst you could say it was a late 60s style western morality flick with the Indians turned into blue giant people.  The whole noble savage thing was a little much, and when it comes to depth and intellect James Cameron isn't going to run away with anything.  Secondly, the main characters were computer animated.  That was spectacular, but at the end of the day they ain't real.  So, with the academy tending reward craft and also tending to try to feel good about themselves, they went with the war flick that had real people in it vs the Cowboys and Indians in Space flick.

That about nails it. No way did it deserve best picture, technically yes, but it was a cliche barrowed plot. Still a great movie I enjoyed.

I can't wait to see Prescious.........





















Not!

[exiledarchangel]

Avatar is an impressive movie, yes, but it's not the kind of movie I want to see again... and again... and again...

I liked the fact Pixar's "Up" got the animation of the year prize. Much more interesting movie IMHO.

[uwe]

Terr, be reasonable, voting Avatar best flic would be like saying that a Linn drum machine is a better drummer than John Bonham. Would you agree with that?

I really liked Avatar, it was good fun and lovingly executed, but it was aimed to be and turned out to be a blockbuster. And the Oscars aren't and shouldn't be about blockbusters. Contrary to popular sentiment I can at least understand where most Academy Award choices/decisions are coming from even if I might not agree with them.  

And as regards acting skills, there was nothing in Avatar that even for a second approached Christoph Waltz' spine-tingling, menacing, demonic and outright uncomfortable and unsettling impersonation of the SS officer in the first quarter of an hour in Inglorious Basterds:





That scene is up there with the best of what Marlon Brando did in Godfather Part I.

[rahock]

Avatar was OK in my book, nothing to jump up and down about. I'm also a fan of real people movies. The CGI stuff is what brings everyone in these days but not so much me.  If cartoons are going to win all the aclaim, then bring back the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, shine up a boatload of trophies and give one to every characture in the show
Rick

[Dave W]

If cartoons are going to win all the aclaim, then bring back the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, shine up a boatload of trophies and give one to every characture in the show
Rick

It's hard to top dialogue like this:

Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

But that trick never works!

Nothin' up my sleeve...