“If you are losing a tug of war with a tiger, give him the rope before he gets to your arm. You can always buy a new rope.” – Max Gunther
A quick timeline:
January 10th – Oscar nominations, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow left off
January 10th – Ben Affleck wins Best Picture and Director at the BFCA
January 13th – Ben Affleck wins Best Picture and Best Director at the Globes
January 24 – PGA ballot deadline
January 25 – SAG, DGA deadline
You build momentum one win at a time, but particularly so if it is an unexpected win. What Ben Affleck’s double wins did on the heels of his presumed “snub” threw fire on gasoline and set into motion a narrative that would turn what was once a wide open Oscar race into one of those years where one movie wins everything — like Slumdog Millionaire. In fact, that was the last time a movie won as many awards as Argo is winning. The drama continues every step of the way because everyone knows that the one award Argo can’t win is Best Director. It was a blessing in disguise.
That it is up against evil Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln makes it all the more juicy. I just saw a headline yesterday that read “will Argo steal Lincoln’s Best Picture Oscar?” Even when it was clear Argo was going to win that narrative kept chugging away and will continue up to Oscar night. People love that kind of thing. It makes us all think justice is being done. The good guys are winning against the bad guys. It’s the nature of humans, and the nature of the Oscar race.
For me, watching the Oscar race all of these years has been like Timothy Treadwell entering the Grizzly Maze. He starts out kind of observing them as photojournalists might – with healthy objectivity – observe them but keep a safe distance. Over time, he becomes too involved and eventually, falsely, believes he can influence the outcome of the cold, indifferent natural world. As we watch his narcissistic personality disorder take over his more gentle nature, he loses perspective and then gets eaten by one of the bears he sought to protect.
I have always envied people who can stumble into the Oscar race and not really care about the outcome. They slip in and out of them easily, never taking them too seriously, showing up to do the job but never taking a particular side, loving being on the winning side but not really thinking any of it matters much. It’s just a dumb contest, after all, who cares. I did that, or tried to, for the few years of Oscar watching. When I first started I wanted to know why some great films never won Oscars. I set out to track them from the beginning of the year on through to Oscar night. I thought if I could show people how it went down they would not forget the best ones and they would think about their vote more seriously. Sometimes it seemed to make a difference, like when Adrien Brody surprised in the Best Actor category. But it was impossible to think any of it meant something after Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash and then later, when The Social Network lost to The King’s Speech, and now when Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty and Life of Pi are losing to Argo. None of these winners are bad films. They are the consensus choice that said we liked this movie better than all of the others.
It is really not the problem of the race itself but those who become too invested in it. If you keep track of the things that generally define greatness and see in the end that those things don’t matter it can become as frustrating and maddening as Timothy Treadwell watching the bears starve to death because there is no rain. And if you care too much people start to wonder about you.
Even still, I applaud Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Gran Heslov and Chris Terrio for their marvelously entertaining Argo. And yes, it is all of those things. Who can’t be happy for Terrio, in particular, a nice guy and a talented writer who wrote something that a lot of people really love? Or Affleck, for that matter, smartly put front and center during the awards race. They’re on the winning side and they can’t be stopped. Might as well hop on their hay wagon, crack open a cold one and sing along. Or you can sit on the sidelines being miserable about the outcome not being what you’d hoped, what you’d imagined or what, in your darkest moments, never thought possible. It’s a choice to make at the end of the slog.
And so I remember back to 2010 when at least the Social Network had won every critics award it went up for – and it was rejected by the industry — Best Picture was read by Steven Spielberg:
This year isn’t ending in a tragedy. Voters found a great movie that they liked. It has transformed the careers of Ben Affleck and Chris Terrio. I have not regretted one minute of this year. Who could not have been inspired by these great movies this year. The endgame is, well, the celebration.
I think I’ve survived the grizzly maze for another year. And as Timothy Treadwell said moments before being eaten alive, “There is no, no, no other place in the world that is more dangerous, more exciting than the Grizzly Maze. Come here and camp here. Come here and try to do what I do. You will die. You will die here. You will frickin’ die here. They will get you. I found a way. I found a way to survive with them. Am I a great person? I don’t know. I don’t know. We’re all great people. Everyone has something in them that’s wonderful. I’m just different. And I love these bears enough to do it right. And I’m edgy enough and I’m tough enough.”
As we close down shop for this bizarre season which started in Telluride with Argo and ended in Los Angeles with Argo, it’s a good time remember once again that the films that get out there early often have the staying power to go the distance. This is the combination of being underestimated (Argo was seen as an also-ran heading into the race) and to have proven staying power to run the gauntlet. Argo stood back while the other films got trashed. This has been true going back many years now: The Artist, The King’s Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Departed, Crash all came out early in the year or around the time of Toronto/Telluride. You have to really go back to Million Dollar Baby to find a late-breaking Best Picture winner. Remember that for next time.
Also remember that the least offensive really does win the day. All of the most recent Best Picture winners had the least or nearly the least negative reviews. To win these days you have to be a Teflon movie with Teflon filmmakers – meaning, you can’t hate them. Hating them is like kicking a puppy. The more you hate on them, the more lovable they become. Remember that too.
But there’s nothing wrong with celebrating the ones that won’t win. They are beautiful losers that are made better because they don’t appeal to the consensus. Great art, by definition, has trouble doing just that. Oh sure, sometimes you get lucky and the consensus manages to get behind great art. But it doesn’t happen often. Usually Best Picture is Ms. Right Now. The first flush of unbreakable love that has a shelf life. Chocolate only stays sweet for so long.
But I have to also say that what made this year for me were the best readers and commenters on the web. The community of Oscar watchers drives this site — it did back in 1999 and it does now. So I am not alone in the Grizzly Maze.
In one week we’ll watch George Clooney, Ben Affleck and Grant Heslov make Oscar history. It will be a joyous occasion. I keep remembering Ben Affleck and Matt Damon scrambling to the state on their surprise win for Good Will Hunting. They were so stunned to be there, so surprised by their win because they looked like kids who just got let out of high school for the summer. Now Affleck’s back to take the big prize. He’s come a long way, baby. We can be on his winning side on Sunday. It’s either that or get eaten by one of the bears.
***
It’s worth mentioning that this is the fourth consecutive year where the major guilds will dictate how the Academy votes. That’s been so, really, since they changed up to ten. I don’t think it’s really possible now, with so many movies in the mix, for there to be any surprises on Oscar night.
Here are the categories I think are up for grabs — meaning, any name could be read because they have no official frontrunner.
Best Director (leaning Spielberg or Ang Lee or David O. Russell). Best Actress (leaning Emmanuelle Riva or Jennifer Lawrence) . Best Supporting Actor (leaning Christoph Waltz, Tommy Lee Jones or De Niro). Best Original Screenplay (leaning Zero Dark, Amour or Django) . Sound Editing (leaning Skyfall or Argo or Life of Pi). Animated Feature (leaning Wreck-it Ralph or Brave). Cinematography (leaning Life of Pi or Skyfall). Art Direction (leaning Anna Karenina or Life of Pi). Score (leaning Life of Pi) . The shorts (leaning Curfew, Open Heart, Paperman).
Seem Locked: Picture-Argo , Adapted Screenplay-Argo, Supporting Actress-Anne Hathaway , Editing-Argo, Foreign Language Film-Amour, Best Actor (perhaps)-Daniel Day-Lewis , Costumes-Anna Karenina , Sound-Les Miserables , Visual Effects-Life of Pi, Documentary–Searching for Sugar Man, Makeup-Les Miserables , Song-Skyfall.
On these charts you can see how once Oscar changed up to more than five Best Picture nominees the guilds and Oscar have been uniform: one winner all of the time.
Producers Guild | Best Picture
Won Guild | Won Oscar
2011
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Argo | Argo | Argo | Argo |
Lincoln | Lincoln | Lincoln | Lincoln |
Les Mis | Les Mis | Les Mis | Les Mis |
Zero Dark Thirty | Zero Dark Thirty | Zero Dark Thirty | |
Life of Pi | Life of Pi | Life of Pi | |
Silver Linings | Silver Linings | Silver Linings | |
Django Unchained | Django Unchained | ||
Beasts of the Southern Wild | Beasts of the Southern Wild | ||
Amour | Amour |
2011
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Artist | The Artist | The Artist | The Artist |
The Descendants | The Descendants | The Descendants | The Descendants |
Midnight in Paris | Midnight in Paris | Midnight in Paris | Midnight in Paris |
Hugo | Hugo | Hugo | |
Dragon Tattoo | Dragon Tattoo | Extremely Loud | |
The Help | The Help | The Help | |
Moneyball | Moneyball | ||
Ides of March | Tree of Life | ||
War Horse | War Horse | ||
Bridesmaids | Bridesmaids |
2010
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The King’s Speech | The King’s Speech | The King’s Speech | The King’s Speech |
The Social Network | The Social Network | The Social Network | The Social Network |
Black Swan | Black Swan | Black Swan | Black Swan |
The Fighter | The Fighter | The Fighter | The Fighter |
The Kids Are All Right | The Kids Are All Right | The Kids Are All Right | |
Inception | Inception | Inception | |
True Grit | True Grit | ||
Toy Story 3 | Toy Story 3 | ||
127 Hours | 127 Hours | ||
The Town | The Town |
2009
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Hurt Locker | The Hurt Locker | The Hurt Locker | The Hurt Locker |
Inglourious Basterds | Inglourious Basterds | Inglourious Basterds | Inglourious Basterds |
Avatar | Avatar | Avatar | |
Precious | Precious | Precious | Precious |
Up in the Air | Up in the Air | Up in the Air | |
An Education | An Education | An Education | |
Invictus | District 9 | ||
District 9 | The Blind Side | ||
Up | Up | ||
Star Trek | Nine | A Serious Man |
2008
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire | Slumdog Millionaire | Slumdog Millionaire | Slumdog Millionaire |
Benjamin Button | Benjamin Button | Benjamin Button | Benjamin Button |
The Dark Knight | Doubt | The Dark Knight | The Reader |
Frost/Nixon | Frost/Nixon | Frost/Nixon | Frost/Nixon |
Milk | Milk | Milk | Milk |
2007
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
No Country for Old Men | No Country for Old Men | No Country for Old Men | No Country for Old Men |
There Will Be Blood | There Will Be Blood | There Will Be Blood | There Will Be Blood |
Diving Bell | American Gangster | Diving Bell | Atonement |
Juno | Into the Wild | Juno | Juno |
Michael Clayton | 3:10 to Yuma | Michael Clayton | Michael Clayton |
2006
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Departed | The Departed | The Departed | The Departed |
Babel | Babel | Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu | Babel |
Dreamgirls | Dreamgirls | Bill Condon | Letters from Iwo Jima |
Little Miss Sunshine | Little Miss Sunshine | Jonathan Dayton/Valeri Faris | Little Miss Sunshine |
The Queen | Bobby | Stephen Frears | The Queen |
2005
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain | Brokeback Mountain | Brokeback Mountain | Brokeback Mountain |
Crash | Crash | Paul Haggis | Crash |
Capote | Capote | Bennett Miller | Capote |
Good Night, and Good Luck | Good Night | George Clooney | Good Night |
Walk the Line | Hustle and Flow | ||
Steven Spielberg | Munich |
2004
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Aviator | The Aviator | The Aviator | The Aviator |
Million $ Baby | Million $ Baby | Million $ Baby | Million $ Baby |
Finding Neverland | Finding Neverland | Finding Neverland | Finding Neverland |
Sideways | Sideways | Sideways | Sideways |
The Incredibles | Ray | Ray | Ray |
Hotel Rwanda |
2003
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Last Samurai | In America | Sofia Coppola | Lost in Translation |
ROTK | ROTK | ROTK | ROTK |
Mystic River | Mystic River | Clint Eastwood | Mystic River |
Master and Commander | The Station Agent | Peter Weir | Master and Commander |
Seabiscuit | Seabiscuit | Gary Ross | Seabiscuit |
Cold Mountain |
2002
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Adaptation | Adaptation | The Pianist | The Pianist |
Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago |
Gangs of New York | Gangs of New York | Gangs of New York | |
Two Towers | Two Towers | Two Towers | Two Towers |
My Big Fat Greek Wedding | Greek Wedding | ||
Road to Perdition | The Hours | The Hours | The Hours |
2001
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
A Beautiful Mind | A Beautiful Mind | A Beautiful Mind | A Beautiful Mind |
The Lord of the Rings | The Lord of the Rings | The Lord of the Rings | The Lord of the Rings |
Harry Potter | Gosford Park | Memento | Gosford Park |
Moulin Rouge | Moulin Rouge | Moulin Rouge | Moulin Rouge |
Shrek | In the Bedroom | Black Hawk Down | In the Bedroom |
2000
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Gladiator | Gladiator | Gladiator | Gladiator |
Traffic | Traffic | Traffic (won director) | |
Erin Brockovich | Erin Brockovich | Erin Brockovich | |
Billy Elliot | Billy Elliot | ||
Almost Famous | Almost Famous | Almost Famous | |
Crouching Tiger | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | |
Chocolat | Chocolat |
1999
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
The Cider House Rules | Cider House Rules | The Cider House Rules | |
American Beauty | American Beauty | American Beauty | American Beauty |
The Insider | Magnolia | Michael Mann | The Insider |
The Green Mile | Frank Darabont | The Green Mile | |
The Hurricane | M. Night Shyamalan | The Sixth Sense | |
Being john Malkovich | Being John Malkovich | Being John Malkovich |
1998
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Waking Ned Divine | Waking Ned Divine | Peter Weir | Elizabeth |
Shakespeare In Love | Shakespeare in Love | John Madden | Shakespeare in Love |
Gods and Monsters | Little Voice | Terrence Malick | The Thin Red Line |
Life Is Beautiful | Life is Beautiful | Roberto Benigni | Life Is Beautiful |
Saving Private Ryan | Saving Private Ryan | Saving Private Ryan | Saving Private Ryan (director winner) |
1997
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Titanic | Boogie Nights | Titanic | Titanic |
Amistad | The Full Monty | The Full Monty | The Full Monty |
L. A. Confidential | LA Confidential | L. A. Confidential | L. A. Confidential |
As Good As It Gets | As Good as it Gets | As Good as it Gets | As Good as it Gets |
Good Will Hunting | Good Will Hunting | Good Will Hunting | Good Will Hunting |
1996
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Fargo | Marvin’s Room | Fargo | Fargo |
Shine | Shine | Shine | Shine |
Hamlet | Sling Blade | Secrets & Lies | Secrets & Lies |
The People vs. Larry Flynt | The Birdcage | Jerry Maguire | Jerry Maguire |
The English Patient | The English Patient | The English Patient | The English Patient |
1995
PGA | SAG | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
Leaving Las Vegas | Leaving Las Vegas | Babe | |
Dead Man Walking | Get Shorty | Mel Gibson | Braveheart |
Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 |
Sense and Sensibility | Sense and Sensibility | Sense and Sensibility | Sense and Sensibility |
Il Postino | Il Postino | Il Postino | |
The Bridges of Madison County | How to Make an American Quilt | ||
The American President | Nixon |
PGA | DGA | Oscar Best Picture
1994
Mike Newell for Four Weddings and a Funeral* | Four Weddings and A Funeral | |
Frank Darabont for The Shawshank Redemption* | Shawkshank Redemption | |
Robert Redford for Quiz Show | Quiz Show | |
Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction | Pulp Fiction | |
Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump+ |
1993
Andrew Davis for The Fugitive* | The Fugitive | |
Jane Campion for The Piano | The Piano | |
James Ivory for The Remains Of the Day | The Remains of the Day | |
Martin Scorsese for The Age Of Innocence | In the Name of the Father | |
Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List | Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List | Schindler’s List+ |
1992
Robert Altman for The Player | Scent Of a Woman | |
Rob Reiner for A Few Good Men | A Few Good Men | |
Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven | Unforgiven+ | |
James Ivory for Howards End | Howards End | |
Neil Jordan for The Crying Game | Neil Jordan for The Crying Game | The Crying Game |
1991
Barbra Streisand for The Prince Of Tides | Prince of Tides | |
Oliver Stone for JFK | JFK | |
Ridley Scott for Thelma & Louise | Beauty and the Beast | |
Barry Levinson for Bugsy | Bugsy | |
Jonathan Demme for The Silence Of the Lambs | Jonathan Demme for The Silence Of the Lambs | The Silence Of the Lambs+ |
1990
Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather Part III | The Godfather Part III | |
Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves | Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves | Dances With Wolves+ |
Barry Levinson for Avalon | Awakenings | |
Martin Scorsese for GoodFellas | GoodFellas | |
Giuseppe Tornatore for Cinema Paradiso | Ghost |
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Added to the impressing long list of peer support, Eva Marie Saint praises Naomi Watts’ ‘Impossible’ performance.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/naomi-watts-impossible-performance-praised-422541
Angelina Jolie, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton, Ewan Mcgregor, Kate Hudson, Alicia Silverstone, Reese Witherspoon, Jack Black, Benicio Del Toro, Jennifer Connelly, Robert Downey Jr., Emmy Rossum, Nicole Kidman, Eva Marie Saint…
@ Antoinette with utmost respect and i encourage you to respond to my thoughts in response to your reaction to the more ‘vocal’ commenters here I find myself strongly disagreeing with you or your implication of you compaining bout vocal majority against certain films. Isn’t it obvious to you and others by now? MOST PEOPLE ARE PISSED THE HELL OFF WITH OSCARS DOUBLESTANDARDS AND HALF BAKED RECKLESS AND IRRESPONSIBLE deciswions. AND YET ME AS RATIONAL as one gets typos not withstanding have arrivbed at the point i had a GUTFUL of oscars bullshit. I sorry to say and i not trying to be destructive but in the context of the fine line betweren what is tolerable and what is not I like so many others have had it.
What i like to think someone lovely and intelligent as yourself who comments i greatly respect is that there only so much true film fans in the global movie going public can take of oscar’s tripe that they server moldy and going off smelling like a absolute stink bomb of a swamp.
If and i believe you are truly genuinely passionate about film you too surely? would be thrown by oscars illogical decision making 60% of the time against the wiashes of those who know what films are best during awards season the public…
I support like i hope most do those who are vocal therefore for and especially against bad decisions oscar make. With the fools hope that one day oscar stand up and take note that they are GRAVELY TREMENDOUSLY betraying their core film base- you esp antoinette remind me of me as recent as literally a few mnths ago so forgive me for the following but i have to be honest on where oscar stands with not only me bt effectively represents the growing minority.
For remember antoinette when in life something gets you down over and over and over again there only so much horseshit you can take and the same applies for oscar.
They have dismally miserably failed the public trust test. They undermine innovative and popular and critically acclaimed films. for as long as i followed from 1998 right through to today…this is the first oscar season i sorry to say that i cannot bear to watch not just cos ‘my’ film is not gonna win this year it lincoln, last year or the year before it was ‘avatar’ and before that ‘the dark knight’ but the sheer volume of neglect of common sense decisions to advance oscar as a film institution it deserves to be not what it denigrates itself to be today is alarming in disturbing for not just any film devotee in myself and so many others bt they have ruined the public goodwill where the public once cared for oscar.
And it their own damn fault they deserve to be condemened evebn mildly abused. for how would you react whensomething or someone pisses you off over and over you give chances and every year or every day you get less and less patient and more and more frustrated. in oscars case it measured in years.
For me, the only high points since 1998 and i deeply suspect this represents many others in the movie going pblic who watch during awards season,
the films that were justified in winning best pictyr for me were: Gladiator, Return of the King the Departed and i was torn when hurt locker won but i embraced it even though it was with a heavy heart for which i would have preferred avatar. But milliondollar baby Crash, Slumdog Millionaire no country for old men most in the public at best only half embraced such films and on balance oscar destroyed gradually year by year public good will.
When a grand once pblicly revered artistic institution violates it core principle it was founded with that is innovation popularity and acclaim where the latter trumps the rest in today’s oscar more often than not.
And when films that most supported like saving private ryan the dark knight- and rises- why the hell it was not a contender is beyond me this year!, aviator, munich, avatar all either lose or get unjustly snubbed – ther only so much passionate film fans will take antoinette and that why i say as follows: and why pple have a right to be vocal againt films or even for them you see now?
So this is just shocking Kushner overlooked for a screenplay that was tenfold at least more accomplished, smarter and far and away innovative to the shit that the supposed most undeserved inevitable Oscar winner in Argo which is to answer u earlier question sasha already determined Argo will b a also ran a fuked up wasted opportunity to embrace the best of the best that film is Lincoln not Argo. What a truckload of shithouse waste . Oscar season denegrates itself to. They should start calling themselves the mediocre arts and motion picture sciences. This year marks a all time lowest ebb for Oscar and the guilds. They are arrogant, selfish and ruthless. Stop at nothing to get their way at the expense of us the little pple who oncce were considered as to who should win best picture. Now Oscar cast us aside. U watch in yrs to come the only thing memorable bout this year is Oscarw elitism on the rise and it public support base in rapid decline. Everyone will tlk of Lincoln in yrs to come and that includes the discredited some not on this site who arrogantly press awards season agenda. There something rotten in Hollywood awards. And that is the rise and rise of mediocruty
I actually really like real life, Yvette, and I like movies that earn their dramatic moments in challenging (to filmmakers and audience) ways. It’s why I loved Cloud Atlas, Silver Linings Playbook, and Amour.
You raise a great point in your response to me: I think the film expects that you already have, at the very least, a passing familiarity with Lincoln and his mythology. Therefore, you would aleady know that Lincoln was a beloved president who frequently spoke to citizens, visited the troops and was very relateable to everyday people.
It is that very expectation that becomes a crutch. As I’ve said, it’s not the ahistorical recitation of the speech itself that gets to me, really, but the narrative weakness of it. It’s cheap – it’s the equivalent of if Gordon Gekko walks in the room and someone says, “Gordon, remember how you said ‘Greed is good’? I agree! I also love how you’re a total bastard!” I think when you already have a character everyone knows (and everyone likes) you can do something more inventive – Kushner did not.
As for your question about who I am: I’m not sure if you’re just being devil’s advocate, a southern apologist, an idiot or if you’ve just been reading too snarky, hipsterish film commentary. Or all of the above.
I am not being Devil’s Advocate. I am not a Southern apologist. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Northeast Democrat, but regardless, I look at art as art. I am, however, an idiot – too many smart people think so that I’d be an idiot not to agree. I do not read snarky, hipsterish film commentaries – they tend to like movies like ‘The Future’, and movies like that make me want to vomit.
CB,
When you make the definitive film about Abraham Lincoln, let us know…
Sometimes real life and emotions are enough. I guess someting can only mean something to you, or move you, when it has some heightened drama – drugs, women, serial killing….
You seem disappointed Lincoln was just a flawed, but great man.
Boring, I guess.
Stick to movies CB and the Internet – because real life must be a real let down to you.
‘But historical accuracy aside, the problem is what a weak, hackneyed set up to the movie. Getting us to love Honest Abe by having soldiers pay him respects by reciting his speech, even as he disappears into the night like Super-Lincoln. Very lame.’
I think the film expects that you already have, at the very least, a passing familiarity with Lincoln and his mythology. Therefore, you would aleady know that Lincoln was a beloved president who frequently spoke to citizens, visited the troops and was very relateable to everyday people. I’m not sure if you’re just being devil’s advocate, a southern apologist, an idiot or if you’ve just been reading too snarky, hipsterish film commentary. Or all of the above.
Super-Lincoln? Really? I mean…Really?
You reveal yourself.
I never claimed the Democrats in 1863 ran around reciting The Gettysburg Address. My guess is that only Lincoln’s admirers would have done so, don’t you think? I would also guess the soldiers in the scene that bugs you so much were Lincoln admirers.
Definitely – especially the African American soldiers must have loved him. My issue isn’t that republicans would’ve liked the speech – it’s that I don’t believe, and many historians say, that people *memorized* it. Enough so that they could recite it back to Lincoln. That never happened – which is fine – I understand that in historical docudramas some liberties need to be taken for necessary dramatic impact. It’s that this moment is *so* unlikely, and so ahistorical on several levels, and also that rather than showing people looking at Lincoln in an interesting way, or saying something interesting, they literally recite his speech back to him. And also when Mary tells him, “They love you so much.” I can’t stand stuff like that.
I think an awesome Lincoln movie would’ve been his relationship with Douglas, or just his rise from early life to death, a la Malcolm X or Gandhi. Or even his decision to launch the Civil War. This movie felt very uneven, and its sentiment to Lincoln very unearned. I felt it coasted so easily on Lincoln the Figure, and unlike films like Malcolm X, Ali, or Capote, ever really captured more about Lincoln than lovability, infallibility, and dignity. That’s why I’ll pick a character like Hannibal Lecter, Daniel Plainview, or Ennis del Mar over Atticus Finch, Superman, or Erin Brokovich any day – the former are fascinating embodiments, the latter noble portraits.
So? How many soldiers do you think are incapable of memorizing a speech? Nobody could memorize a speech back then? Every 9-year-old can memorize it today, but grown men in 1963 didn’t have the mental capacity?
I wasn’t saying that soldiers couldn’t memorize a speech – just that the speech after it was given was not considered a major address, and was actually overshadowed by Lincoln’s recent Thanksgiving address. This is fact.
False. FALSE. It was immensely popular and earned nationwide renown from the very first week it was reprinted in newspapers. It was instantly praised as “a perfect gem” … “deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression, and tasteful and elegant in every word and comma.” … a tribute that would “repay further study as the model speech“.
That was from the New York Times, at the time a very republican newspaper. To take one pro-Lincoln paper’s obviously biased perspective (which I agree with!!!!!!) as a historical marker is false. Also from the same Wikipedia page I’m sure you just referenced from, “[T]he Democratic-leaning Chicago Times observed, “The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.””
Either way, I personally think opening the film with such blatant exposition – both having the speech and showing an extremely unlikely sentimental moment was a weak choice on behalf of Kushner.
That was from the New York Times, at the time a very republican newspaper.
I never claimed the Democrats in 1863 ran around reciting The Gettysburg Address. My guess is that only Lincoln’s admirers would have done so, don’t you think? I would also guess the soldiers in the scene that bugs you so much were Lincoln admirers.
Argo is winning in the same fashion of Sandra Bullock- because there is swarms of love coming towards the person, and not the film/performance. And a few months after it wins, that’s when I will get the phone calls- all consisting of the same thing: “So, I finally sat down and actually WATCHED The Blind Side- yeah, how did she win again???” The same will follow with Argo- except at least Argo holds some credibility and is a solid film. I’m not as big a fan of Zero Dark Thirty as some, but I do love Lincoln and think it is being treated like the ugly stepchild, complete with punishing the working mice that helped make it possible. I’d like to hope for some more love for Lincoln Sunday night, but it almost seems inevitable that the Director’s Branch has set itself up for major “Shame on You!” action when the envelopes are opened. And after Ben is done thanking everyone and saying how surprised he is, the grease will settle and suddenly- it will all seem so wrong. “Wait, Lincoln only won 1 Oscar? Out of 12 nominations? Huh?”
Dare I say, I would give me smug pleasure to see any film beat Argo Oscar night, just so we can all get a big WTF and realize that just because the guilds say one way, doesn’t mean the Oscars will. Alas, this is only dreaming.
Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and the anti-Spielberg factions are appalling. Who else could have made Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year? He has made brilliant family films, action adventure, fantasy, war films, sci-fi (AI is a masterpiece) and now one of the greatest historical films ever made with Lincoln, with Tony Kushner’s brilliant, brilliant script.
I simply can’t believe, in an industry focused on money and profit, that even when a long, talky historical drama with no action/adventure scenes is a huge financial hit AND the highest-grossing best picture nominee and yet it probably won’t win. It will lose to the entertaining but minor Argo, which is really just a TV movie with a bigger budget and Ben Affleck. And the idea that Lincoln could be derailed by this pernicious campaign about historical inaccuracy for what is just a brief moment in the film is disgusting. About 40% of Argo is made up to make it more pro-American and entertaining, but where’s the outrage?? Where’s the member of Congress writing an Op-Ed demanding retakes?
I was truly surprised in 1989 when Driving Miss Daisy won. But Driving Miss Daisy is a masterpiece compared to Argo.
@CB, I don’t think anyone can truly say when a speech can be memorized or when it would be printed and who would’ve read it. Of course it could’ve been memorized and in some sense I see where you’re coming from when you believe that opening was hackneyed. However my take, and I know I’m not alone, is that the white soldier stumbled slightly while reciting the speech and made it sound a tad more jovial whereas the black soldier never missed a beat and said it confidently without being starstruck. This shows that the speech meant more to one man than the other. The black soldier also treated Lincoln like a normal human being and not a celebrity, like the white soldier did. The thoughts I perceived running through his head were, “You gave a good speech, now what?” I felt that bookended perfectly with the hallway scene near the end where he walks with the tiny limp, showing that he is a man, a monument as a real person and not the actual stone monument we were led to beleive as children.
it is almost inconceivable that any uniformed soldier of the day (or civilians, for that matter) would have memorized a speech
That’s absurd. The speech was reprinted in dozens of newspapers and was famous nationwide within a week. The type of solider who would have been impressed enough to memorize the speech, is exactly the type of soldier who would have come to seek out Lincoln to meet him face to face.
Great movie moments aren’t built around what 50 million people average people don’t do. Great movie moments are built around extraordinary situations and special individuals. Those soldiers aren’t supposed to represent the commonplace memory skills of every enlisted man. Those young men had a special admiration for Lincoln, and that’s why they have a scene devoted to their admiration.
it’s no trick to memorize The Gettysburg Address. Couldn’t we all recite it in 2nd grade?
Ryan, the movie supposes that multiple soldiers memorized a speech that didn’t gain popularity until the turn of the century. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0029.206?rgn=main;view=fulltext Yes, it was published in newspapers, like all brief remarks by the president.
But historical accuracy aside, the problem is what a weak, hackneyed set up to the movie. Getting us to love Honest Abe by having soldiers pay him respects by reciting his speech, even as he disappears into the night like Super-Lincoln. Very lame.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0029.206?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Ryan, the movie supposes that multiple soldiers memorized a speech
So? How many soldiers do you think are incapable of memorizing a speech? Nobody could memorize a speech back then? Every 9-year-old can memorize it today, but grown men in 1963 didn’t have the mental capacity?
that didn’t gain popularity until the turn of the century.
False. FALSE. It was immensely popular and earned nationwide renown from the very first week it was reprinted in newspapers. It was instantly praised as “a perfect gem” … “deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression, and tasteful and elegant in every word and comma.” … a tribute that would “repay further study as the model speech“.
Don’t believe everything you read in The Daily Beast.
Im fact, if you’re smart, you shouldn’t believe anything at all that you read in The Daily Beast.
Those SOLDIERS WERE THERE WHEN THE SPEECH WAS DELIVERED. They were physically present. They heard with their own EARS when “Lincoln’s speech was interrupted five times by applause and was followed by long continued applause.” (The New York Times, November 20, 1863)
Why in hell would they have to wait for “the turn of the century” to realize its impact? THEY WERE THERE tp WITNESS the impact.
dude, you make no sense. “Soldiers can’t memorize stuff” “Soldiers don’t have the good sense to know what applause means.” Lincoln’s words weren’t “popular” until 50 years after he died?
Your gripes are ridiculous.
Wow. Got my Tilda snubs mixed up. Does the Academy have some odd buyer’s remorse with her surprising win for Michael Clayton because I count 3 snubs that easily could have been nominated.
And SallyinChicago, zD30’s fall had nil to do with quality. It was the controversy and critics abandoning it for safer, happier Argo that shared a CIA plot line not to mention an editor and composer. It was the best reviewed film of the year and at least should have gotten more nominations. Sony was unprepared for the controversy and did a terrible job campaigning for it, see: the no SAG screeners incident that hurt Chastain and the ensemble.
Re: Hunt as a TV actress, it does seem like Academy snobbery to look down at TV actors. Huffman losing to Witherspoon likely was a factor with FH on Desperate Housewives and Shailene Woodley’s non-nomination. Character actors like John Hawkes and Melissa Leo can get away with TV work but being best known for TV work as a contender/nominee likely has some down sides.
Yikes!
Vincent, I didn’t even see the Campbell Soup kid reference!
My mistake…hey, I’m typing and reading an an iPhone…
But’s what’s wrong with the Campbell Soup kid?
Those who are predicting Riva to win (such as myself), what are you predicting SLP to win?
Ay, that’s the rub, Zach. I can’t see SLP going home empty handed, either. And that’s why my Riva talk is shaky as I hope – and don’t believe – that SLP wins nothing else, either. To me, it’s best shot is JLaw.
Even Helen Hunt acknowledged that Judi Dench should have won that year and she was right.
Can someone honestly explain to me what was his/her problem with Sally Field’s performance? All I ever hear is “she was miscast” or she was “awful”? I’m sorry…what the fucking fuck…I think, along with Hathaway, she gave the best performance by a female this year. She should have been bumped to lead so they could give her another Oscar — not that she HAS to have another, so much as 2012’s Best Actress wouldn’t go to one of the weakest winning performances in the history of the category.
If I’m remembering it correctly, Kate Winslet was considered to have just squeaked into the Best Actress race in ’97. Dench, Christie, Bonham Carter, were likely ahead of her. And, yes, we all knew Helen Hunt was going to win. I thought Christie or Bonham or Dench would have all been better choices.
Someone said that Lincoln was never a frontrunner in this years annual cluster fest. I distinctly remember last year when the announcement was made regarding Sally Field securing the role of Mary Todd there was a great deal of discussion regarding Lincoln and that specific casting. Lincoln was already in the conversation. Then filming began and once again Lincoln was in the conversation.
What made Lincoln a frontrunner this year wasn’t the beauty pagent award circuit it was the audiences. The critics weren’t as hard on Lincoln as they had been on other Spielberg films. In fact the reviews were a lot better than I expected because it was Spielberg. That in itself should say something about the perception of Spielberg in the industry. But what happened to Lincoln wasn’t the reviews. It was the audiences.
Lincoln lacked the sentimentality trademarked by Spielberg films. Lincoln was a boring historical lesson compared to most Spielberg films. The film lacked a real resonance with The Civil War, there just wasn’t enough blood and guts for the average movie going audience. The dialogue was crafted to appeal more to a collegiate audience than it was a steel worker. It was lighted badly. Field’s portrayal was soundly identified as the weak link in the film and too many it was said she was miscast.
And yet the public found it. The public kept finding it and continues to find it. The audiences made Lincoln a frontrunner because you simply couldn’t ignore the box office of a movie that in this day and age should not have succeeded. Everyone expected it to make back it’s budget and maybe a bit more. With the lack of sentimentality, with the lack of blood and gore, with a intelligent screenplay, with the flaws pointed out by so many regarding the design, the audiences found it, with the flawed performance by Field [rolling my eyes as I type that]it succeeded. And everyone knew Lincoln was gonna get shot. Yet even knowing the outcome people still went. People loved it.
The audiences made Lincoln a frontrunner and thank god they had the good sense to see a damn good film. One of the things that redeemed The Social Network for me was the dailogue. I thought Network’s screenplay much better than the film I actually enjoyed more that year. Lincoln was a frontrunner and still is because here we all are still talking about it.
The honest flaw in this whole process is paying attention to the multitude of critic fests. I suspect next year the so called critics fest will probably multiply by 20 percent based on how everyone now publicizes each and every one of those ridiculous coronations. Next year we will probably have the Buffalo Film Critics prizes right next to the Vermont Critics Prizes. Isn’t that just tantalizing.
Yvette,
Call me when the shuttle lands.
“So instead of providing your own argument, you provide someone else’s you read on the internet … to presume that people wouldn’t have been able to reference Lincoln’s speeches … To suggest otherwise or make some asinine presumption otherwise is just ignorant of how things were then. Yes, I read that review and others like it. Thanks for regurgitating it.” It sounds like someone is indeed 1) Making asinine presumptions, 2) Misattributing words, and 3) Allowing their passion to get the best of them.
If you can specify what you’re talking about, Yvette, I can respond. I said no such thing about the Lincoln introduction. Your passion for Lincoln, m’deary, is clouding your view. You might want to check yourself before you step off a cliff. All I said was in regards to Lincoln on this thread is, “I would have given the movie a grade higher if the Campbell’s Soup Kid took the bullet.” And that’s an original thought from yours truly, not the internet.
“Words used to mean something.” Yes, Yvette. And, people actually read them. And they address the people who said them.
I am always someone who defended Helen Hunt’s win in As Good As It Gets. Who cares if she was a sitcom actress, she’s still done a ton of films ranging back to the 1970s. And again, it’s about the performance- and Hunt was incredible, she showcased amazing range and delivered believable reflections about her life and son she was caring for. And her chemistry with Nicholson was spot on, something Lawrence and Cooper did not have- mainly because Lawrence, again, is too young to be playing her character. But sadly Hollywood now matches up older men with teenage girls- (even if Cooper is still relatively young) still, the woman is always played like a teen daughter almost, it’s repulsive. I was reminded of Thora Birch in American Beauty when watching Lawrence’s screen presence.
Back to Hunt, not only was she great in the film- she was the frontrunner by Oscar night, securely taking the Globe and SAG for her performance and was also in a big Best Picture nominee that revamped Jack Nicholson’s career. And if anyone was a foil for Hunt, it was Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown and NOT Kate Winslet, who did not do that well in Titanic; I found her American accent to be distracting and she just seemed unbalanced in her role, as flat as it was anyways. Love the film, but Titanic was not going to win acting awards. Hunt deserved her award.
You know what I wish? I wish there was a little badge or something that people had to walk around wearing that said how many Oscar nominated films they’d seen. I’ve spent so much time dealing with zealots for this film or that who haven’t even seen the films they’re fighting for or against. I can’t understand what people get out of arguing with other humans to the point of insults and negativity, and this has been the worst year I’ve seen for that, over films at all but films that they haven’t even seen. I get wanting to be right. But wanting to be right about something that you know you don’t know anything about? What a horrible year this has been for actually discussing the films, which stopped long before the Oscar nominations. This might as well just be a gambling site for all the commenters who are just rolling the dice.
Sorry but I’m just noticing in the last couple weeks that incredibly vocal commenters are saying they just saw one of the major players. I can’t wait until this season is over. It should have been fun with all the great films but it’s been the exact opposite.
Yes, shot on 65mm, of course. Shown in 70mm.
@Jason Travis, the difference between Argo and The Blind Side is that Argo was critically raved. The Blind Side…not in the least. But I know Bullock’s performance was better than the movie itself, still no reason to reward her. But I fully believe Affleck deserved to be in the list of nominees (the opening and closing scenes alone did it for me). He has continuously grown as a filmmaker. Atlas must’ve been pushing the sky higher because obviously the sky isn’t high enough for him yet. People can prefer Gone Baby Gone over Argo, or even The Town as his best work but you can’t deny his technique is improving with each flick. Bullock had practically plateaued by the time Blind Side came out. It was neither an amazing performance or a bad one.
@Max, I believe The Master was shot in 65mm but projected in 70mm. I know it’s a bit nitpicky but I know The Master would’ve struggled immensly if they shot with IMAX cameras. Otherwise spot-on assesment of Phoenix’s performance.
I think ZDT is going home empty-handed. I think Django’s only chance is in Screenplay. While I’m predicting that for lack of a better alternative (Amour doesn’t really deserve it for writing + they may feel like Tarantino is due for another win + the Weinsetein factor), I won’t hold my breath. It’s like a multiple choice test. I know Django’s probably the wrong answer, but I don’t know what else to pick.
Regarding Director, I have no idea what effect the exclusion of Affleck will have. He was likely going to win had he been nominated (even if the film itself lost to Lincoln), but now that he’s gone, does that mean that the director who was next-most likely to win is now our winner, i.e. Spielberg? Or were Spielberg/Lee destined to be a bridesmaid either way?
You know, I’d think the outraged Affleck fans would be inclined to vote for Spielberg. They can’t be mad at HIM. It’s like Hugh Jackman. He wants to win, but he’s genuinely happy to be losing to the best.
Yvette,
Then I suggest you watch The Master as soon as you can. I’m sure you will love it. It is the only film that can match Lincoln in terms of acting and writing and direction. Joaquin Phoenix’s is just as perfect and astounding as DDL’s in Lincoln, but more daring, original and unpredictable. Really, I won’t complain if Phoenix’s pulls of the greatest upset of the night over DDL. But I will be pissed if they fail to award Kushner.
I fully expect The Master to be ranked the highest among 2012 films in future Sight and Sound polls.
Zach, I’m probably wrong, but I predict that SLP goes home empty-handed, showing Weinstein that there’s no room for him in a year like this. It’s very likely just wishful thinking, but IMO the film is 2nd worst of the nominated nine. I also think that Django Unchained and the relatively good film Zero Dark Thirty win nothing.