Sasha Stone has been around the Oscar scene since 1999. Almost everything on this website is her fault.
Better late than never! Barbie was placed in Adapted at the Oscars but is in the Original Screenplay category here,...
Read moreThe Academy should take a bow this morning for bringing back the Oscars, restoring them to their former glory in...
Read moreThe Golden Globes went off well enough this past year that CBS has signed a five-year deal with the Globes...
Read more
“The fact that she won Best Director in 2009 over Cameron’s film Avatar, a film that is ground breaking and more complex than her film, was disappointing”
What was groundbreaking in Avatar?? The crowd pleasing effect it had, the writing, the cliche characters or his visions of extraterrestrial life and the mediocre aesthetics? The only really groundbreaking work coming from Cameron is Terminator 2.
Film Fatale, I like how you focus on quality films such as Hugo and War Horse; those films were good, but not their finest work. What about Scorcese’s Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, Mean Streets, and Spielberg’s The Color Purple, jaws, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, ET, Jurassic Park. You have a biased and limited knowledge base on these two fine directors. As I said previously, Bigelow is okay. She does not have the resume or credibility of these two film makers. The fact that she won Best Director in 2009 over Cameron’s film Avatar, a film that is ground breaking and more complex than her film, was disappointing.
Paul, you didn’t see Zero Dark Thirty so you really can’t speak to whether her action is any good or not.
For what Nolan and Whedon do, PaulH, I would agree with you. Nobody is better – those guys are jaw-dropping. That’s not the same as Bigelow’s heightened realism.
Nonetheless, even the most rudimentary action set piece by either Nolan or Joss Whedon runs circles around anything she’s done. No comparison.
“It was TIME that said CLOUD ATLAS was the worst film of 2012 right? ”
Did they? Bastards! Yeah, they are in the business of selling magazines, not movies, so everything they say should come with a disclaimer. But I couldn’t resist sharing because I knew what the response would be.
I think the “action director” hyperbole was more in reference to her skill (and realism) with actions scenes, not action films, as such. In that, I think, they are correct. You can track her growth with these scenes through many of her films.
This shouldn’t surprise anybody – she has an innate sensibility of how a scene should feel as opposed to what it shows. She’s like the genius editors (all women) like Virna Fields and Thelma S. – she gets to the core with feeling, not confusion.
I don’t necessarily agree with the quote, but I do believe Paul should see her last two movies before he laughs uncontrollably. All you can do right now is assume, and that has the weight of nothing behind it.
Haven’t seen Zero Dark Thirty yet but love Strange Days and Point Break.
(from the TIME article) “Bigelow is perhaps the finest action director at work today”
It’s proclamations like that that send everyone into a tizzy and get people fighting. The weird thing about it for me is that I don’t even think of her movies as action movies. They have action scenes sure but I don’t think they’re action movies.
It was TIME that said CLOUD ATLAS was the worst film of 2012 right? Maybe they just like stirring the pot.
Time, you’ve lost it: “Bigelow is perhaps the finest action director at work today”
*laughs uncontrollably* 😀 😀 😀
Can’t stand when people say Bigelow is overrated or overhyped. She is doing what she does best. Don’t compare her to Scorsese and Spielberg. That’s so illogical and unfair.
The “pedigree or resume of Scorcese (sic) or Spielberg” LOL?
Thank god for that — no Hugo or War Horse coming from Bigelow, the most “maverick” director working in America today who has finally hit her stride and found material to complement her gifts.
She’s an okay director; a little overhyped. She does not have the pedigree or resume of a Scorcese or Spielberg.
I would guess that it was probably scheduled before the noms were announced. Had she been nominated, as expected, it would have been a great bounce. Regardless, I’m glad she made the cover.
Someone on HE commented that this cover should have come out in December. I have to agree. But better late than never. What a great picture.
Best director of the year.
I’ve really become a big fan of KBig. Her work is just so thoroughly solid. Can’t wait to see what she does in the future. I trust it will different but still exemplary.
Props to Time for doing a cover story on Bigelow. Love her or hate her she is deserving of the honor.
I feel Bigelow has become one of the giants. The Academy really should be ashamed.
Bitchin. Slammin. Werkin.
(from the TIME article) “Bigelow is perhaps the finest action director at work today”
There! Don’t choke on your cheerios, fanboys.
She sounds resolute and unblinking, and I can’t wait for her next project.
For years Jodi Foster has struggled to make a film about Leni Riefenstahl, the undeniably talented director who made Nazi propaganda films for Hitler. Riefenstahl swore she only made the films because she was forced to by the Nazis, but some believed her films were too well made to be the product of coercion.
I think Bigelow would be the best director to bring this complicated woman’s story to the big screen. She would be able to visually match Riefenstahl’s amazing cinematic vision, as well as use her own experience of being accused of making evil propaganda to get at the emotional root of the story.
Whatever she plans to do next, I know I am looking forward to it. I appreciate both her talent as a filmmaker and her belief that audiences are smart enough to figure out complex issues on their own. We should not be outraged when a movie expects you to find for yourself the answers to the questions it raises.
Classy woman!