45 Responses for "AD’s First Half Winners – Hurt Locker for Best Picture"

1. Jon July 19th, 2009 at 4:50 pm 1

   Sasha absolutely no argument here. “The Hurt Locker” is far and away the best picture of the year (thus far) and marks a triumphant return for Kathryn Bigelow. Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie (along with everyone) were sensational. Regardless of its release date, I feel this film will receive plenty of nominations come Oscar time. It’s a great film.

2. Matt Mazur July 19th, 2009 at 5:12 pm 2

   Nice to see that the forum, unlike the stuffy old Academy, can recognize and award, a quality female director — and not only in this year! Sarah Polley was an inspired choice for Away from Her a couple of years ago!

   With Bigelow, the Academy might not have a choice — they can’t throw her a perfunctory screenplay award/nomination as they often like to do with many great female directors such as Polley, or Jane Campion or Sofia Coppola.

3. Nick K. July 19th, 2009 at 5:28 pm 3

   HOORAY FOR CORALINE!! ^_^ Comes out on DVD Tuesday!

   And I *really* need to see The Hurt Locker. Darn limited engagment!

4. Pablo July 19th, 2009 at 5:46 pm 4

   Interesting but it does not tell much about this oscar season. The only film that could win over the Hurt Locker was Up and even online people are biased against animated films.

   In the 4 last months of the year is when the competition gets even more interesting.

   Hurt Locker for the Academy Awards in the director, actor, picture and screenplay categories?

   Yes, no doubt. Will it win the 4 ? Dont think so. It hasnt begun battling the heavy weights of this season.

5. Ron July 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm 5

   In my personal opinion Public Enemies. The movie is the most origial and innovative gangster movie since goodfellas. It is a breath taking saga of John Dillinger at the peak of his fame. Its not about Dillinger the man as it is about the proffesionalism and adrenalin of being a criminal in the golden era of gangsters. It is a technical masterpiece and it is a shame that it is still ahead of its time for moviegoers and critics. Johnny Depp half way through deserves the best performance along with director Michael Mann and Marion Cottiliard. Hurt Locker was good but I did not find it ground breaking or that original. To me it is a gimmick movie that has people show up for just a little bit to get killed. I predicted the three supposedly shocking kills in the movie way before they came. To have famouse people on screen just to make the kill that more effective is a gimmick. How about Sam Rockwell in moon, way better than Renner. The Hurt Locker is just nicely done but it won’t make it well with the Academy. But none the less it is a good movie but to me Public Enemies is great.

6. Afrika July 19th, 2009 at 6:25 pm 6

   ron
   I’m sorry to contradict you but public enemies was BLAND. The lackluster performances didn’t help either. A waste of my money (just like Harry potter and the half blood prince).

   The Hurt locker seems to be getting a lot of love on this forum. I haven’t watched the movie so I can’t say anything negative about it. Cheri is a lost cause and Gwyneth paltrow? really? hmmmmm. 9 will knock Caroline out of the water and ascend to its throne as the best animation movie of the decade.

7. Garett July 19th, 2009 at 6:31 pm 7

   Yay for the fellow San Carlan, Kathryn Bigelow! Her film is finally showing in a few more mainstream places closer to home now, so “The Hurt Locker” is finally a bit more possible to see. Gotta do it!

8. Ron July 19th, 2009 at 6:36 pm 8

   Art house Gangster Movie. Public Enemies for everyone in my family who I recommended it to loved it. It is pretty much Heat with out Pacino over doing it. Pacino was good but he wasn’t near as good as Robert De Niro’s proffesional, cold, calculated, and suttle performance. I value Mann for not dumbing down his movies for the general public he gives us real characters who are not going to cry and make speaches about their life or feelings. The feel real because they are in the moment only saying what needs to be said and nothing more. The value of the performances are in the eye’s and body movement. We are thrown into the world of gangsters and FBI with out having it dumbed down by a hammy script or over the top performances. I mean Graham as Baby Face Nelson is accurate with out being to much. I appreciate Mann for giving us real crime movies with real tough guys who don’t spill their soul to the audience but makes them think about how they like the characters for who they are in the moment.

9. bambi July 19th, 2009 at 6:40 pm 9

   I was rooting for Star Trek but Hurt Locker sweep is mighty fine too. Great, great movie.

10. Kay July 19th, 2009 at 7:07 pm 10

    Awesome choices!

11. Shou July 19th, 2009 at 8:10 pm 11

    Awesome choices, really!!!
    Congratulations to all the winners.

12. ladylurks July 19th, 2009 at 8:45 pm 12

    Very happy to see this recognition for The Hurt Locker, Coraline and Two Lovers (which should have won original screenplay, too). Go Kathryn Bigelow!!!

    Public Enemies, being a July release, wasn’t eligible here. I imagine it may find some love at the end-of-year awards, though.

13. j July 19th, 2009 at 9:03 pm 13

    So the most acclaimed movies of the year so far got awards, 6 for Hurt Locker, 3 for Trek, 2 for Up/Coraline, 1 for Drag Me to Hell.
    Interesting that people here think the best screenplays of the year are animated. A bit surprised that Hurt Locker didn’t triumph there too, though. Right now I’m rooting for Bright Star as an English nerd for Original Screenplay, but it would be nice as well to see an animated film finally win a screenplay award.

14. andrew July 19th, 2009 at 9:09 pm 14

    “The Hurt locker seems to be getting a lot of love on this forum. I haven’t watched the movie so I can’t say anything negative about it.”

    Wow Afrika, you couldn’t say “I can’t say anything negative OR positive about it” =)

15. Winston July 19th, 2009 at 9:09 pm 15

    Hooray for Pfeiffer! I love ya girl! Good luck come Oscar time!!

    FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!

    Best Actress in Leading Role 2009

    MICHELLE PFEIFFER, CHERI

16. srh1son July 19th, 2009 at 9:38 pm 16

    Is “The Hurt Locker” where I can buy stuff to put on my hurts? Like “Foot Locker” is where…

    Never mind, it’s not funny.

17. Jack Kyser July 19th, 2009 at 10:30 pm 17

    These are fine winners (go The Hurt Locker)! Although I believe Sam Rockwell’s performance in Moon is quite extraordinary, and deserving of a mention.

    I agree with Ron, Public Enemies is Michael Mann’s best film since Heat (and my mid-year favorite, as well). Filmed with the intensity of a true auteur filmmaker, the movie is a careful examination of the familiarity of death and violence as it pertains to Dillinger (Depp) and Purvis (Bale). At some point, they are both astounded by their exposure to and understanding of violence.

    Depp wisely portrays Dillinger as a loser in disguise, and Mann doesn’t attempt to psychoanalyze why Dillinger did what he did. He’s not a complex hero, nor a hero at all really – which is what makes Public Enemies so fascinating. He has no future plans, no real grand escape plan – he just robs banks and assumes he will eventually die gloriously in a beautiful hail of bullets – and that is the only reason the insecure Purvis can catch him. That he doesn’t die beautifully – actually, rather simply and pathetically – is a credit to Mann, who treats death with such a matter-of-fact approach that many audience members are almost shocked that Dillinger goes down so easily and quickly.

18. Jake July 19th, 2009 at 10:34 pm 18

    I was rooting for Maya Rudolf for Best Actress. She gave such a wonderful, unexpected, emotional yet understated performance, and showy roles like Pfeiffer’s are obviously going to get all the attention come awards season, which is too bad, though predictable.

19. Winston July 19th, 2009 at 11:19 pm 19

    Pfeiffer’s role was not showy in any way…Very subtle and magnetic.

20. The W. July 19th, 2009 at 11:45 pm 20

    Tetro’s cinematography is far better than the cinematography The Hurt Locker. Oh well.

    Cheri winning over Watchmen for best costumes? Sounds like a bunch of lazy voters. “Uh yeah, lets just give it to the English Period Piece”. Gah, that annoys me SO MUCH.

    >:(

21. jorge July 20th, 2009 at 12:09 am 21

    michelle is gonna make into the top 5 with cheri, u will see people

22. The Natural July 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am 22

    “The Hurt Locker” has quickly become “The Dark Knight” of 2009: good, respectable film, but nowhere NEAR as good as others make it out to be. It is simply bewildering to me to see the praise showered over this film. I can’t begin to comprehend what people find so brilliant about it. It’s a well-made, tense war film, but it’s absolutely nothing I haven’t seen before done better. Ultimately it’s worth a watch, but sitting through it is a chore of great proportions.

    Someone agrees, I hope?

23. Russ July 20th, 2009 at 2:21 am 23

    I think Pfeiffer stand’s a healthy chance, pending that competition is weak by year’s end. It maybe 2005 all over again, with a small slate to choose from.

    One thing against her is the release date, but her RAPTUROUS raves and a good campaign by Miramax would cinch that. I hope they look at the quotes used in

    L.A. Times
    Rolling Stone
    Entertainment Weekly
    San Francisco Chronicle
    Hollywood Reporter

    among others and run with it.

24. Jeremie July 20th, 2009 at 7:06 am 24

    What a surprising result… I reckon it is probably the only awards The Hurt Locker will get this year. People don’t seem that excited about this film except on this site. I know it doesn’t say anything about the quality of the film, but its box-office doesn’t show a lot of love. And we know that when Oscar’s time comes, nice figures at the box-office (or at least decent) doesn’t hurt. Here are the numbers after this weekend :
    http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=hurtlocker.htm
    Not that impressive. And most probably forgotten by the time of nominations.
    But I’m really glad to see some love for James Gray and his Two Lovers. I never got why he never had any success in his native country with his films. He is loved in Europe and considered as one of the best living American director (which he is!), but nobody seems to really care over there.
    Every actors/actresses he directed gave the best performances of their careers (Phoenix, Whalberg, Furlong, even Eva Mendes who is sublime in We own the night, or Paltrow in Two Lovers).
    I can’t wait for the The Lost City of Z, a nice departure from his regular themes. And maybe a collaboration with Brad Pitt will finally bring him the recognition he deserved.

25. JJ Jones July 20th, 2009 at 8:13 am 25

    “What a surprising result… I reckon it is probably the only awards The Hurt Locker will get this year. People don’t seem that excited about this film except on this site.”

    You must not read much because people love that film.

26. Chamboosy July 20th, 2009 at 8:27 am 26

    Another reason why I’m kicking myself for missing the terribly short (two weeks!) run for Two Lovers.

    No news yet when The Hurt Locker will get released here in Oz – maybe they’re awaiting some kind of nomination or something before releasing it, us Australian’s have never really rushed to see Iraq war films, but if it’s nominated for an Academy Award then people will gladly sit through anything.

    Finally both Cheri and Drag Me To Hell come out this week though… cannot wait.

27. ladylurks July 20th, 2009 at 8:42 am 27

    Actually, The Hurt Locker is doing really well at the box office in very limited release. We’ll see how it performs when it goes wider.

28. Jeremie July 20th, 2009 at 9:12 am 28

    Even Revolutionary Road did better last year in limited release and ended up with 22 millions. The Hurt Locker went from an average of 36k on its opening weekend to 8k for its last one, and it still only playing in 94, after 4 weeks. A wider release was supposed to happen in July, wasn’t it? But it already seems too late. If its ends up with 10 millions in the end, it would be amazing.
    As I said, that doesn’t say anything about the quality of the film (or Transformers 2 and The Hangover would be instant classics…), but it won’t help the film to get nominations.
    And that also proved my point, that contrary to what people might think on AD, The Hurt Locker is not really the big thing everybody is talking about right now (and on the must seen film list)…
    And as I said in another post, I hadn’t seen it yet but I do think it’s a good film, and all the love reactions I read here seem really genuine. As soon as it released in UK I will go and see it. And it’d probably be a really good think if it gets nominations, and a female director is recognized for her work.
    I just think all the Oscar predictions (in every almost single category) for it are slightly unrealistic, and mostly biased by the fact that the editors of AD absolutely loved it.
    And it sometimes really difficult to discern between hope, self-conviction and certainty when Oscar predictions and devotion to a film are mixed together.

29. JJ Jones July 20th, 2009 at 9:14 am 29

    “And that also proved my point, that contrary to what people might think on AD, The Hurt Locker is not really the big thing everybody is talking about right now (and on the must seen film list)…”

    You are talking out of your rear end.

30. Jeremie July 20th, 2009 at 9:28 am 30

    And that’s also the problem with its fans, that it seems that every time someone doesn’t agree with them and doesn’t think that The Hurt Locker is the best film ever made and will win every single awards on earth, they can’t really argue and just start being aggressive and treat him/her like a twat. Very constructive.

31. JJ Jones July 20th, 2009 at 9:34 am 31

    You are right. Nobody is talking about it as an Oscar contender except of this site.

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090708/REVIEWS/907089997

    http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20285519,00.html

32. Fivus Viener July 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am 32

    Jeremie, I am not sure what you are talking about. It is among the top Oscar contenders at this time. It is being talked about by all of the top critics. You are getting bad info my friend.

33. Alison Flynn July 20th, 2009 at 9:47 am 33

    And that’s also the problem with its fans, that it seems that every time someone doesn’t agree with them and doesn’t think that The Hurt Locker is the best film ever made and will win every single awards on earth, they can’t really argue and just start being aggressive and treat him/her like a twat.

    Jeremie, that’s the problem with ALL fans, of any film or actor or director.

    I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker yet, so I can’t contribute an opinion about the movie. Many people whose opinions I respect thought it was excellent however. I don’t know what that will mean for awards later in the year, as there are a lot of elements involved in pushing a film all the way to the Oscars, but I wouldn’t rule anything out yet.

34. walkabout July 20th, 2009 at 9:57 am 34

    some reactions against you may not be constructive, Jeremie, but it doesn’t change the fact that The Hurt Locker is getting very good reviews everywhere… check Metacritic (93) and RT (97%)… It’s not the best film ever made or something, but it’s the best of the year so far and stands a very good chance at being nominated for multiple Oscars… and since it’s been made by a female director, that’s an extremely exciting news! I don’t agree that it performs poorly at the boxoffice either. the way I see it, the numbers in the limited release so far are quite solid… right now, I’m pretty sure The Hurt Locker will be a big success at the awards season and -I know you will automatically assume that I’m a fanboy for saying this, because you’re doing exactly the same thing you’re criticizing so far, that’s not accepting a different point of view- Bigelow may even win the Best Director Oscar…

35. Loyal July 20th, 2009 at 11:45 am 35

    Summit is really screwing up the release of The Hurt Locker IMO.

    The Hurt Locker is definitely the best action film of 2009. As for the best film thus far, 500 Days of Summer wins that title.

36. Other Ryan July 20th, 2009 at 1:15 pm 36

    How refreshing to see Up and Coraline winning their respective screenplay categories. Will this translate to Oscars? Probably for Up. Sadly not for Coraline. Both are at the top of my list so far.

    I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker yet, but it’s definitely on my must-see list when it comes out in DVD or expands.

    But I’m most excited for (500) Days of Summer.

37. chris andrew reno July 20th, 2009 at 2:16 pm 37

    Michelle pfeiffer for Cheri ( 2009). I’d love her to win an oscar after being nominted 3 times. The film got mixed reviews but critics praised her performance. I have a feeling the score and possibly kathy bates as best supporting actress.

38. The Natural July 20th, 2009 at 2:35 pm 38

    Films so far this year already better than “The Hurt Locker”:

    “Up”
    “Star Trek”
    “Public Enemies”

    I doubt it will even remain in my Top 10. It’s a struggle, and not just because of the subject matter. Bigelow makes it almost impossible to watch, let alone enjoy.

39. SaltireFlower July 20th, 2009 at 3:27 pm 39

    @ The Natural

    I agree with you. There are other films that have come out this year that are better than The Hurt Locker: Star Trek, Public Enemies, Two Lovers, Hunger (not sure if this counts as a 2009 release, but it’s better), even The Hangover.
    It’s certainly a well directed film, but I don’t think there’s anything special about it. I don’t even think it deserves a best picture nomination.

40. Aichbeetee July 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm 40

    I don’t mean to be insulting, but I can’t comprehend the mindset that would deem Star Trek better than The Hurt Locker. That’s just fucking moronic.

41. The Natural July 20th, 2009 at 5:42 pm 41

    “Star Trek” was sensationally crafted pop-entertainment, a summer blockbuster that delivered on every single aspect it set out to accomplish. It was one of the most riveting two hours I’ve spent in a theater, packed to the brim with exhilarating action set pieces, great humor, and characters you could root for. I ENJOYED watching it.

    “The Hurt Locker” is a chore to sit through, quite simply. Rather than running by quickly it seemed to drag at the worst moments, and at the closing I couldn’t feel anything other than a numbed disappointment. “Star Trek” left me high on its wonder, whereas “The Hurt Locker” left me enervated.

42. j July 21st, 2009 at 7:31 am 42

    Someone compared Hurt Locker to Dark Knight in acclaim. HL 93% and in top ten of the decade on Metacritic, DK 82%. (Also, Drag Me to Hell & Star Trek 83%.).

    500 Days of Summer I hope gets nothing. Except maybe something for Gordon-Levitt who manages to make lemonade out of shlock. The only good line in the entire movie that’s not in the deceptively great trailer is the very last word.

43. Matt July 21st, 2009 at 4:34 pm 43

    Wow. How terrible Hurt Locker was okay, but in no way worthy of a Best Picture win or even a nom. Why do people keep wanting such pedestrian pieces of trash to win at The Oscars? It’s not art, it’s just a decent movie.

44. Yohn July 21st, 2009 at 8:54 pm 44

    Michelle Pfeiffer Winning the Oscar this year !!!…YESSSSS

45. alex July 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 am 45

    If Michelle Pffeifer is nominated and won, this will be my favorite Oscars in all the history¡

    I think that Cheri has possibilities of being nominated in other categories, especially in original score and costumes (an announced win?), and too in adapted screenplay, cinematography, art direction and make up