The Kiss
This made me laugh after such a slow and predictable night. Yeah, The Artist won, okay got that. It’s gonna win everything, got that too. And I think fundamentally my problem is that I really prefer movies like this — which is, essentially, if David Fincher, David Lynch or Darren Aronofsky made The Artist:
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Can’t laugh. Too soon.
Just kidding, I loved this!
Ma’am, I found it’s odd the way you’re whining about the glory of The Artist, Hazanavicius especially, whereas you put that film among your list in the 7th place and the director in the 2nd place. What happened last year between TSN vs TKS I must admit was such a fatal failure. But this year? Please, like, seriously…. The Artist is worth it to get all of praises and attentions. Thank you.
Come Daniel, where’s the fun in that? Righteous outrage for all, I say!
Although I must say this was a lot more fun for me the last time this happened, maybe because I had the good fortune of seeing it early and knowing that the Slumdog train would stampede over many an Oscarwatcher’s dream before they did. This year just seems as milquetoast as the film itself.
That was wonderful.
More The Artist bashing? oh boy!!!
I hate to continue this “The Artist” bashing but I simply must do. I finally got to see it just recently and I didn’t like it at all. I’m baffled. I am not one of those who relishes going against a universal consensus, but I just have to for this soon-to-be Oscar winner. Yes, Dujardin is impressive but the film itself left me cold and largely unmoved. I even found it quite tedious. It seemed to have just glossed over the generalities of the silent film era without really having anything particularly important or interesting to say.
My new way of thinking for this years Oscars: Who gives a flying fuck that the academy didnt nominate TGWTDT for Best Picture, it still is the best picture of the year, its still a blast to watch, its still my favorite, and the Oscar snub means nothing, Its still the amazing TGWTDT to me and just because other films got bp nods, it doesnt make them any better than TGWTDT! Its just an amazingly crafted piece of art and I cant wait to buy it on bluray and add it to my fincher collection! Just because a film doesnt get a bp nomination, doesnt mean its not a Best Picture in my eyes and it doesnt ruin how i feel about the film! Please Dont let the Oscars have so much of an effect on you, or you will drive yourself mad!!!
And Sasha do you think you can write an article about an early look at the films that could be in contention next year! The Hobbit all the way baby!
Isn’t this homaging Nolan as well? The Joker in TDK anyone?
You know, Sasha said it well earlier…Fincher (and Nolan also) are the modern day Hitchcock(s).
Hitchcock
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho
North By Northwest
Fincher
Se7en
Panic Room
The Game
Zodiac
Dragon Tattoo
Nolan
Memento
Insomnia
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
Inception
Some pretty comparable filmographies there. Except Hitch made 50+ films (and 15 or so great ones) so admittedly Fincher and Nolan have a ways to go, lol…but they are definitely on the right track.
yet like Hitchcock they have been largely ignored or recognized for films that are not their best and/or different from their typical fare. (ie Rebecca)
*Strangers on a Train
Shadow of a Doubt
Foreign Correspondent
Spellbound
Suspicion
To Catch a Thief
Dial “M” For Murder
The Lady Vanishes
Frenzy
Notorious
The 39 Steps
Rebecca, while admittedly different than Psycho/The Birds/etc is still an amazing film. I think that accurately describes how Benjamin Button and Social Network fit into Fincher’s filmography as well.
Nolan on the other hand has gone from making small scale character driven films with some thriller/action elements to making large scale blockbusters with surprising amounts of character study. Sadly, I don’t really think either of these two will lead to him winning any oscars anytime soon.
Of all those, the only ones the Academy saw fit to even nominate were Spellbound, Suspicion, Foreign Correspondent, and the aforementioned Rebecca, which actually won even though it’s one of Hitch’s weakest.
“Benny Z says:
January 29, 2012 at 2:34 am
Nolan on the other hand has gone from making small scale character driven films with some thriller/action elements”
Thanks for reminding me that I need to add The Following to that list; even though it’s not technically a full length motion picture, it was an amazing debut film.
And you’re probably right about him not winning any Oscars soon but as has been mentioned when Nolan ends his Batman trilogy with a bang next year it will really test if this new voting system is a failure that won’t allow for blockbusters…and if TDKR follows the same fate as the HP finale then the Oscars will be truly done for.
The one thing I dislike about this site is that if you don’t agree with TPTB that Movie X or Performance Y was the best, you’re basically told that you’re stupid, or, to put it more mildly but in some ways more insultingly, you’re just not evolved enough.
As Paul said to Billie Dawn: “There is no ‘better to like’.”
And Sasha do you think you can write an article about an early look at the films that could be in contention next year! The Hobbit all the way baby!
That’s something we usually save for the week after Oscar night, but we might push ahead sooner this year.
How wonderful it is, in these unremittingly pessimistic times, to have a movie like ‘The Artist’ and to see it being so richly rewarded. While cinema should reflect the times we live in and not shy away from the difficult and uncomfortable aspects of life and society, being able to celebrate the age old virtues of love and hope with wit and imagination is a gift.
To negate the joy offered by ‘The Artist’ because of the alleged shortcomings and perceived ignorance of the Academy is to do it a great disservice. Don’t bemoan what isn’t; celebrate what is.
I’m beginning to have a sense that the industry this year thinks they’ve found a new genious and are trying to seduce him to work in Hollywood. On related news, there’s the buzz the new Almodovar movie will be shot in English, watch out ’cause IF Pedro wants it, he’ll get Best Picture. Half-joking he promised Jolie a role in it.
2012′s frontrunner is already clear, anyways, Lincoln posed to get Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Screenplay, Make Up… it looks like an OSCAR FILM and the combo Day-Lewis & Spielberg (just look at those noms for War Horse without any star attached to the project) is simply irresistible Oscar candy. We can forget about The Hobbit now. These creatures already have 17 Oscars. They’ll look anywhere else.
I love THE ARTIST as much as the next guy, but I still didn’t find this as bashing the film at all. Cute.
It’s not so much that I want to bash the Artist, but it does get frustrating after a while the Lemming-like quality of Awards season in the last few years.
What is the point of having a DGA award, for example, if rather than rewarding the best achievement in directing they simply vote for the movie they like the most and want to win Best Picture? Or else, can someone explain to me where the visionary directing comes in in a movie like the Artist? Where it shows that this movie could not have been made by any studio director off the street? Compare that to, say, Hugo (which I like) or Dragon Tattoo (which I love), where you can truly see the directors unique vision playing out and adapting difficult material into new ways of story telling, and the Artist simply isn’t that great in terms of its directing, even if you do think it’s Best Picture.
The same, of course, can be said twice over for the choice of Hooper over Nolan or Fincher last year by both AMPAS and DGA. Can anyone seriously argue that Hooper was a greater director than those two last year? I posit the answer is no, and that therefore these guild awards are just proof of the lemming-like quality of awards in recent years, which is sad for us awards lovers.
Think about it, the year of The Departed was the last year where there was an honest shred of doubt over Best Picture (very slight). No Country, Slumdog, Hurt Locker and King’s Speech were all unstoppable trains. As is The Artist. The answer varies depending on which year you look at specifically. It were ALL of those BP winners SO FAR above their competition that there was no way that there could be any possible doubt that that they were the best? For one or two of those maybe, but for most the answer of course not. And yet the trains were unstoppable well in advance of Oscar night.
What’s happened? I think with 24/7 awards coverage like we have now, buzz and an idea take hold as soon as one or two groups speak up, and that’s that- it becomes almost impossible to detach from that narrative because all groups really really want to appear like they “get it” they’re cool too, they also think The Artist is best picture so, by God, we will nominate it for best everything else to prove the point. It’s ridiculous and makes an already borderline-farcical spectacle and absolute joke.
Remember- if The Artist were in color and with sound, it would likely have exactly zero Oscar nominations today.
That was wonderful.
I thought so too. One of the best films I’ve seen this year!
I thought the serial killer stuff ruined it. It had a nice Looney Tunes vibe and then the kids these days have to go all nihilistic. Turned it off
I think people need to lay off of Sasha’s posts. She’s allowed to write whatever she wants, and I dare you to write anything that is as eloquent or thought-provoking.
This was hilarious. I thought The Artist was a very charming movie, and I was entertained throughout. Not my favorite film of the year though. I loved Hugo, Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball and Take Shelter.
Why is everyone talking about this year as if it’s the first Oscar year that has ever been predictable? I seem to remember “Slumdog Millionaire” and “No Country For Old Men” and “Lord Of The Rings” and many many many many years before that “crushing everything under the weight of their predictability”. Even “The Hurt Locker” and “The King’s Speech” and “Chicago” and “Million Dollar Baby” and “The Departed” were pretty sure things by the time the show came around. It’s a very rare year where it’s up in the air.
I don’t understand all this “too predictable” “boring” year. My God, the DGA has just been won by a French director last year nobody knew! A French director who lost the Golden Globe ten days ago! it is not like Spielberg all over again year after year, it is not Pixar winning everything every year, it’s not Boyle winning everything during a season! Besides, Hazanavicius made an unconventional movie using all the conventional tools cinema has. He made a silent movie in 2011 that speaks volumes about Cinema, moviemaking, Hollywood, fame, ability to reach for help, man relation to power, women emancipation, economic crisis, atc…. all in a light touching funny way. The Artist has the lightness movies had once and for a change something like that is winning. How predictable?!
Much of the angst over the steamroller Oscar seasons of recent years is caused by the early calendar. Remember when the Golden Globes happened in time to influence the Oscar NOMINATIONS? When the SAGs weren’t televised? Other things have happened too, such as the Academy’s total embrace of American independents. A small film like THE HURT LOCKER with no box office would have had no chance at all even five years earlier.
It’s hardly even that the Academy likes only “Oscar movies,” as Sasha stated the other day. If you showed the previous five Best Picture winners (I’m counting THE ARTIST) to someone who’s been asleep for the last five years and asked what they have in common, he/she would have trouble finding much, and probably wouldn’t guess that they all won Best Picture. There’s been less of an “Oscar picture” lately than there used to be. THE ARTIST isn’t exactly BEN-HUR or GONE WITH THE WIND.
THE KISS represents a new cliche–what happens when guys mess with a “female” genre. Must all movies be about psycho killers, Sasha, or do violence to middle-class mores? That gets knee-jerk and tiresome too.
I want to “like” Dennis Bee’s post! My thoughts exactly.
I miss that “Like” button too.
It’s gone to help ease stress on the traffic load (has everybody noticed how this year the site isn’t crashing on Big Event nights? Knock wood, but that’s Sasha’s streamlining and turbocharging things for all of us.)
Sundance winners!
http://thescreenteen.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-sundance-winners.html