The times, they are changing. When True Detective aired, the buzz caught on slowly. Folks were watching it but they weren’t really REALLY watching it. Around the time of episode 4 that started to change. Suddenly, the obsession ballooned to consume a global audience. How people watched, how they accessed it, varied. The incentive was there to seek it out by whatever means necessary. By the end of the series, the hype had eclipsed what the creators originally had in mind. An elegant, perfectly executed series was not big enough for the hungry imaginations of the obsessed, who took the random tangents, or subtext of the series to be actual clues that would point, ultimately, to the bad guy. But the story was only ever really about the two true detectives, Rust and Marty — the most excellent Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. This series was about their inner structure. What lies beneath the surface of the landscape of that deep, soggy, American south — slave cabins and everything rotting underneath illuminates the disease upon which this country was founded. We want it to not be there. But it’s there. The evil represented in the show can’t be blotted out by anyone, not these two characters, not even God himself. Rust was a manly Christ-like figure, absorbing the sins of mankind though now having lost “faith” in even himself. That last shot of Rust in the hospital ought to make that abundantly clear.
But True Detective made another thing abundantly clear. What will become of the Oscars now that television is doing what movies used to do back in the 1970s? Television is where the artistic courage is happening when it comes to American film narrative. With this, the fourth consecutive year that Best Director went to a man born and educated outside America, one has to start to wonder about what kind of a ship we’re building here. Of the nine Best Picture nominees, only three were directed by Americans. Many of the films that were Oscar bound, at the top of that list Joel and Ethan Coen, were supplanted by films that appeal more to voters. What are we to make of this?
It isn’t as though the Oscar race has to be about Americans only. But the short categories are often dominated by foreign language films as well, films made in places that foster creativity rather than what we seem to value over here in America: opening weekend. We measure box office like we measure dick size. It’s killing American cinema.
I know, you’re thinking — “Why pick on foreign directors when they are doing American cinema better than Americans! After all, opening weekend ain’t no problem for many of them plucked from their own homelands to helm the bloated tent poles. A good director is a good director and it doesn’t matter where they come from.” Yeah, that’s true. But being a patriotic American I take a look at all of the film schools, all of the student filmmakers, all of the up-and-comers and I wonder — why aren’t Americans kicking ass in either the short categories or now, in Best Picture?
Is it that we value style over substance here? Is it that Americans have forgotten how to tell a good story because we’re all raised on sequels and reality TV? Are we really the stupidest first world country? Do we not value education enough? Do we have no politicians who will help us keep and build the foundations that value art? I don’t have the answers to these questions.
It is also time to start thinking about what’s going to happen to the Oscars themselves.
American film is moving away from good, quality storytelling and towards branded tent poles. The youngsters are cutting their teeth on this kind of crap thus they will be raised to believe that this is what movies are. This started during my childhood with the advent of the blockbuster. Now we’re actually rebooting Star Wars via JJ Abrams. These movies satisfy the requirement for the giant dicks at opening weekend. Look at those numbers! People will come in droves, and they do, no matter what that greasy hamburger tastes like — they’ve been branded and they do what is required of them. Movies as video games, movies as amusement park rides, movies as familiar, comforting, non-challenging entertainment. Worth noting: Gravity did all of that while defying those rules at the same time. Give it a slightly more complex screenplay and it would have been even better. Tent poles. Get used to them. Get used to every beloved director being hired to make one. Branded tent poles are power in Hollywood. Directors can do those and then turn around and make what they want.
At the same time, the Oscars reject this adaptation in their own evolution. 86 years and they just finally awarded a film directed by a black director. To them, that’s progress. And it is. But they are an island onto themselves, offering safe passage and refugee status to any film — ANY FILM — that tries to tell a story without the use of visual effects to tell it. As Jim Cameron and Martin Scorsese dive enthusiastically into 3D, the Academy still says no way. One category represents the effects-driven films — Best Visual Effects. It simply isn’t sufficient now. They need a separate category for the kinds of films they don’t like to award for Best Picture, the same way they’ve done for Foreign Language film and Animated Feature. They created those categories to preserve their Best Picture for the kinds of movies they want always to dominate in Hollywood — dramas, mostly, but nuts and bolts filmmaking that relies on acting, writing and directing — not green screen and a team of effects artists. Avatar, Hugo, Gravity — these are three films that many have argued should have won Best Picture. Only one of those choices I would agree with. I thought Hugo was far the more accomplished film than The Artist but you see where this is going, right? The American went daring and challenging while the Frenchman went the traditional route. Tom Hooper, Michel Hazanavicius and now Steve McQueen told traditional dramas that any old American director might be too disinterested to tell.
The Academy is going to have to find a way to deal with effects driven films within the next ten years. Either that, or the Best Picture/Best Director race is going to represent world cinema, films made by foreign directors who aren’t seduced by the tent poles and are still being encouraged to simply tell good stories, to make good movies. This is what you see at the Cannes film fest, and it should be said, on the independent scene — Sundance offers up many films by up and coming filmmakers. That hasn’t changed. Independents will continue to find a seat at the table, with unknown but talented filmmakers while the best directors this country has to offer are off doing This New Piece of Crap Part 10: The Formative Years, or else they are making coffee and music as David Lynch is doing, or they have exiled themselves to television where the ground is fertile, the audience engaged and the future limitless.
Right now, Oscar Island still makes room for the best directors working at the top of their game, like Martin Scorsese with Wolf of Wall Street, like Paul Thomas Anderson and his upcoming Inherent Vice, like David Fincher and Gone Girl. But it certainly isn’t easy for them. Scorsese had to go outside the studios to get funding.
What’s the answer? There probably isn’t one. Television is going to continue to thrive in this, its second Golden Age. Effects movies are going to continue to make too much money to stop now. Americans are going to condition themselves to watch only one kind of movie when they go to movie theaters. The baby boomers are going to be senior citizens soon so perhaps they alone can keep alive the art house. Or maybe we can keep looking to pioneers like last year’s Ava DuVernay, who is broadening the reach of the art house to — gasp — people of color. Or Benh Zeitlin who used crowd funding and a good idea to make his movie. Oscar Island waits for them and offers them safe passage through the storm.
Most anticipated film month by month 2014 edition
March – Noah
April – Captain america the winter soldier
May – godzilla
June – jersey boys
July – dawn of the planet of the apes
August – guardians of the gAlaxy
September – birdman
October – gone girl
November – dumb and dumber to
December – the hobbit: there and back again
Yeah even with the smaller role, he’s better off in ARROW
I’ll be back to it in o time. It’ll be hard to top Bell
Do you rate NYNPHOMANIAC?
I find endless pleasure in the fact that this discussion included a mention of Teen Wolf. Well done, Bryce. 😉 Back in fall 2012, I was so mad at Colton H. for leaving the show (and they way he did it), but looking at the direction the show has taken since, I really can’t blame him. The young actors/actresses continue to do a marvelous job, but the storyline(s) (or lack thereof)?! Holy…
Here in Germany on Pay Tv my actual favorites are:
Boardwalk Empire,
Masters of Sex,
Game of Thrones,
Breaking Bad
The Walking Dead
All epic storys with complex characters, great screenplays and cinamatic production design. From my point of view there stands nothing above american storytelling. Maybe the british are able to produce a similar quality. But not with that range of complexity. Be proud of that great art! Why should the media not change in telling movable and moving pictures? And maybe it has an effect on cinema in a positive way! See that great actors like Cranston moved succesfully to the big screen. Better late than never. And the number of talented authors is breathtaking!
Bryce: I miss the Jamie Bell-in-Nymphomaniac avatar…bring it back!;)
Chris,
All I do, besides list, is forget important stuff. It’s been so long off the air that for got about it, but LOUIE is definitely on my main list. I’m also inclined to think IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA is can’t-miss television so yeah I’ll give you that one :p
I abandoned BOARDWALK EMPIRE mid-season 3 because it was getting a little boring but I hear Season 4 is outstanding so I’ll get back to it eventually. I don’t like ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK and VEEP is just serviceable. I haven’t seen the others.
Midlife Rider,
I’ll be sure to check it out –premise sounds incredible. I’m all about the execution.
Also I just started watching BABY DADDY on Netflix. The two brothers are super hot. There’s no other reason to see it.
Nobody watches high-end television shows. They watch NCIS, reality shows and football.
Bryce, there’s Continuum, and then there’s
everybody else. Including Orphan Black and its gimmick.
Louie is now the best show on TV, given that Breaking Bad is over. Holding out cautious hope for Better Call Saul but I kinda know better than to be too excited.
I’m only mentioning shows still on the air, either having just aired, currently airing or scheduled to air.
Bryce, you neglected to mention a bunch of good shows, not least of which is the BEST SHOW ON TV, Louie.
Also, other shows worth a look:
Review with Forrest MacNeill
Boardwalk Empire
Veep
Orange Is The New Black
Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Kroll Show
FYI, SXSW film fest award winners: http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/sxsw-audience-award-winners-are-announced-with-cesar-chavez-before-i-disappear-silicon-valley/
I’ve an idea; how about the Academy start respecting the sci-fi genre and not holding the fact that an Avatar or a Frozen make a mint, are loved by critics, and it isn’t held against them? The Academy must yield here. Or is it going to take a lot of the old members to die off and be replaced by others who have a fairer, open mind toward sci-fi than the current membership does? I don’t want to see the Indie Spirits on ABC anymore. I want a balance between what the arthouse crowd gravitates toward as well as what critics and moviegoers love. And for the latter, it has to be BOTH. Making gazillions and stinking out the joint should never be rewarded by AMPAS *coughTransformersRevengeoftheFallencough*.
I live in a city with 1.5 million inhabitants, a city that prides itself on being an academic center with a very lively cultural life. Want to see Dallas Buyers Club or Nebraska? Only one art house cinema in town were showing them. All the multiplex suburb (where most of the population lives) theaters were showing nothing but crap.
Good films are simply not accessible to the vast majority of Americans. We are force fed overpriced dumb action and comedy flicks that only appeal to dumb teenage boys.
True Detective was the best movie I’ve seen since No Country for Old Men (the great Woody Harrelson being the common denominator – somebody give this guy some great character leads). Matthew McConaughey’s performance was unforgettable – the best work any actor (including himself, Day Lewis, Penn, etc.) has given in recent memory. For McConaughey’s performance alone, TD would be worth HBO’ subscription price, but TD was so much more. Fukunaga’s a great artist too – an American though of foreign parentage. Give this director carte blanche to try to surpass his work on TD.
One would think, Steve. [shallow answer reserved]
Paddy, filmablabla,
I got this, yo.
Yes indeed, Les Revenants. Yes yes yes indeed.
^ I was waiting for them to strip down to their undies, Bryce. (in tribute to Sandy, of course)
Somehow I missed this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ZhJP8q-Ts
The Oscars are an oasis in a desert of CGI. Independents, the caravans that travel to it. And television is the river carrying ideas to the wide open seas.
As much as I love the direction TV is going, it is sad to see it leave animation behind the doors of comedy. (Granted shows like Archer are AMAZING!) What I would not give to see an anime like Space Brothers on American television. Attack on Titan might be the first anime in a long time to garner wide spread attention in the US, and rightfully so. Even if it is not perfect, it stands well above anything networks on this side of the Pacific would dare attempt in animation.
Attack on Titan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c37Jq9zWd-I
I don’t get it. Are you supposed to say foreign films/directors can’t be in a higher position than Americans. You complain about quality of artistic cinema in the USA but is incapable of naming one single foreign production in your reviews. As JoeS asked, have you seen The Great Beauty? Or Blue is the Warmest Color? Or The Hunt? All of them bringing broading our imagination. You should care less if there is any American and please the fact that there are still great moviemakers WORLDWIDE. This is art, it doesn’t matter if it’s English, French, Italian, etc.
LES REVENANTS is a must-must watch…
Internet is the future, Sasha. Visual Effects will become cheaper, animation, too. Less and less people is going to be required to produce a film, and Gareth Edwards’ “Monsters” was the final proof, the direction the media is taking. 20 years for now, a Pixar film maybe done by a team of 200 people, top. Lucasfilm has developed this life-action-real-time-motion-capture that already has some impressive results, they just need to polish the results. A team of programmers and designers to virtually build up a world, a bunch of actors wearing the tech costumes and you can shoot a Harry Potter remake (whole series) in one year, 20 years from now, just to give an example. Once the revolution of graphene implements, watch out. The world is about to change, big time, in all senses.
“To pick up on something earlier written by Al Robinson, regarding the idea for Oscars to have a Best Special Effects-Driven Film. I would say Forrest Gump, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King winning for Picture, Film, and Special Effects tend to negate the need for a Best Special Effects-Driven Film category.”
Travis, you know, I forgot that those movies special-effects. That is a good point. 🙂
1. A lot of what is considered the best stuff on TV would be considered “indies” if they were films – cable shows (Arthouses) not produced by the big networks (aka Film Studios). Not to mention they only do 5 to 12 episodes and not the standard 20-24.
2. Speaking of indies, there were some extraordinary ones made this year but got overlooked at Oscar time that were certainly worthy – SHORT TERM 12, FRUITVALE STATION, MUD etc. It’s not necessary to go “Foreign” to see films made by great young filmmakers.
3. I wouldn’t add a best “Blockbuster” Best Picture. But, I could see a Stunt category and maybe one that recognizes Visual Effects in terms of Cinematography (GRAVITY, PI, AVATAR etc. having won recently for that fusion).
4. Has Sasha seen THE GREAT BEAUTY yet???!!! I mean it was one of the most lauded and awarded films on the planet last year and won the Oscar. This is “Awards Daily” isn’t it?
Well, that’s embarrassing. Maybe Ryan Adams can erase it from my second list. Will you Ryan?
What on Earth is True Detective?
Bryce, how is Sherlock both TV you must be watching as well as TV that is good but not definitely must-see?
To pick up on something earlier written by Al Robinson, regarding the idea for Oscars to have a Best Special Effects-Driven Film. I would say Forrest Gump, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King winning for Picture, Film, and Special Effects tend to negate the need for a Best Special Effects-Driven Film category.
Addendum: I knew I forgot something
11) SOUTH PARK is still as good as ever so it remains in the list…of course
“The doomsaying about American cinema being overwhelmed by big-budget special effects popcorn movies has been going on for decades. The Coens, the Scorseses, the Aronofskys, the Andersons, etc. of the world all still found a way to rise up and bring their visions to the world.”
And they still will. But the job of the cinephile set is to freak out at the rest of us having fun with our so-called effect driven rides. Just let them be.
OK since I see there’s some confusion in the tread, here’s the TV you must be watching:
1) GAME OF THRONES (no justification necessary)
2) TRUE DETECTIVE (you all heard it)
3) MAD MEN (Yeah, yeah, I know, not the flavor of the week anymore, but it’s coming to an end, it’s still hella compelling so with to it!)
4) GIRLS (The season started slow giving a kind of been-there-done-that kind of vibe, but it has rebounded and they’re back in full force. Still a can’t-miss spectacle)
5) RECTIFY (I don’t know what to tell ya, but see it and spread the word, goddamn it!)
6) COMMUNITY (It’s gonna win the Emmy for Best Comedy. Mark my words. I don’t know how they get away without giving it all the top honors during this year’s ceremony)
7) THE VENTURE BROS. (The best animated show in America. Looks down on everything else and rightly so)
8) AMERICAN HORROR STORY (Yup)
9) SHERLOCK (The definition of class-act all around. Reliable AF)
10) Whatever Chris Lilley is up to
And that’s it folks, that is it. Everything else is very flawed and/or overhyped. I watch the following shows but in no way are they must-sees:
THE WALKING DEAD
HOUSE OF CARDS
SONS OF ANARCHY
TRUE BLOOD
TEEN WOLF
ARROW
JUSTIFIED
SHERLOCK
HANNIBAL
Wow. I need to read more.
Finally, I’ve heard from some smart cats that LES REVENANTS is a must. Can anyone vouch? AD German readers, do you guys have something as good as HEIMAT going on right now or from the recent past? Because I have no idea, and it’d be neat to know. Actually everyone should recommend me some non-English series that you consider MUSTS because I’m too ignorant to find out on my own.
@Sasha
“The times, they are changing…”
This has been the case for years now. Not just True Detective. And of course you have to think a movie lasts 2 hours generally, where a TV show lingers for 6 weeks, 12 weeks, even 24 weeks. So the format itself determines it’s longevity with the audience. A lot of TV shows though I can forget about out. But I remember wondering if America TV was eclipsing American cinema with shows like Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, House, and more recently Breaking Bad, Game Of Thrones, Mad Men. I’m not a big fan of period drama, but I watched Downton Abbey and thought, if this were a movie it would bag 12 Oscar nominations.
“Fourth consecutive year that Best Director went to a man born and educated outside America… Of the nine Best Picture nominees, only three were directed by Americans…”
Surely this also has to do with non-Americans getting the green light to make movies, better movies. The same for the smaller movies. And this is good news in a way. I love the diversity now, and look forward to the time Oscars also look at movies like Short Term 12 and Frances Ha a little more seriously.
“American film is moving away from good, quality storytelling and towards branded tent poles.”
This is true, and sad. As a screenwriter myself I value and execute the good, character driven story over the effects driven movie every single day of the week. That’s just me.
“They need a separate category for the kinds of films they don’t like to award for Best Picture, the same way they’ve done for Foreign Language film and Animated Feature.”
And comedies maybe. But as the Golden Globes demonstrate, it can get a bit messy {Walk The Line is a drama about music, for instance}. With the best Picture increasing to 9 / 10 then the “outsider” movies get a look in but still won’t win. As you say, Gravity came close, but that was more than a mere effects driven film.
@Yogsss
“It’s kinda sad people can’t see Gravity as something more than an effects-driven film… Gravity had Sandra fighting for life and people cheered up for her.”
I agree. As much as the opening half hour of Gravity is spectacular, nobody is talking about the scene were Bullock’s character hears the dog barking. She is like a toddler hearing sounds for the first time, and an adult feeling emotion in complete isolation. I said to my wife as I was watching that scene, that will be her Oscar nomination clip. I was wrong as it turns out, but that is the scene from Gravity that stayed with me. Sandra Bullock might not haven ever been better than she was in that sequence.
Oscar has been ignoring comedy for years in the same way…. even more so than effects driven films, really.
critics could help by issuing separate ten best lists for comedy…. and for the tentpoles.
Have to agree with my countryman, Q Mark. It was only thru the 1950s that American directors dominated the Oscar noms. In the 60s, it wasn’t unusual that 3 to 4 of the BD nominees were foreign-born. When American directors started copying their style during the “golden age”, the numbers when down to an average of 2 foreigners per year, but jumped back up to 3 or 4 in the 1980s. 2 to 3 was the average in the 90s and it has only been this century where American-born directors dominated the nominees – until this year.
While place of birth is a moot point regarding quality, the dominating medium is another story. True Detecive, House of Cards, etc are like the old silent epics that thought nothing of running 4 – 6 hrs in length. They are complete stories and that sets them apart from the serialized fare we’ve become used to on TV. The fact that we can watch them at home, often in a binge situation, indicates that audiences will sit still for longer than 90 minutes a shot. It’s the megaplex viewing factories that need to process as many paying customers as possible in a day, not unlike meat processing slaughterhouses.
Yes – home viewing is the new medium for most class entertainment in that it doesn’t restrict content or length, but that “home viewing” is not necessarily TeeVee, home of the sitcom, procedural and reality show. It soon will be the only place where non-established eclectic filmmakers can get their stuff known and our real storytellers can get funding to continue and/or make a profit without compromising their vision to fit the 90 minute, socially-correct fanboy dating ground created by – and perpetuated by – the current Hollywood system.
I think whether one is American or non-American will affect one’s opinion to Sasha’s post. Personally, as a Canadian, I couldn’t care less about the nationality of a Best Director winner. If anything, I feel it’s better for cinema as a whole that these great filmmakers are coming from all over the globe.
The doomsaying about American cinema being overwhelmed by big-budget special effects popcorn movies has been going on for decades. The Coens, the Scorseses, the Aronofskys, the Andersons, etc. of the world all still found a way to rise up and bring their visions to the world.
Also:
“Is there a phrase more hackneyed than “the magic of the movies”? From the moment of their invention at the end of the 19th century, motion pictures have been perceived as simultaneously hyper natural and supernatural. The first films of the Lumiére brothers were simple recordings (“actualities”) that established the photographic basis of the medium; those produced by the stage magician Georges Méliès, the subject of Martin Scorsese’s impressive 3D spectacle Hugo, were fantastic and predicated on special effects – namely stop-motion, the simple technique that made animation possible.”
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/feb/24/hugo-martin-scorsese-oscars-georges-melies
“To help bring Hugo to life, Scorsese called on long-time collaborator Rob Legato as the film’s visual effects supervisor. “The whole film really is celebrating persistence of vision,” says Legato, “and what it meant to early filmmakers, and the film is so rich with homage and appreciate of that.”
https://www.fxguide.com/featured/hugo-a-study-of-modern-inventive-visual-effects/
I think the reason for the idea to change the Oscars, and add a “Best Special Effects-Driven Film” has to do with 2 things that have happened.
First, in 2012, Life of Pi won best director for Ang Lee, but Argo still won Best Picture. Then, this past Oscar race for Best Picture came down to 2 movies: 12 Years a Slave (the old-school type) and Gravity (the effects-driven type). The fact that they gave 12 Years a Slave Best Picture and Gravity Best Director just made it all the more. But, I really think this debate has been going on longer than that. In 2009, it came down to Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker, and in 2011, it was The Artist vs. Hugo.
young people go to the arthouse too.
-a young person that goes to the arthouse
I don’t think they should have a separate category for best “effects film.” isn’t that basically the “Best Action Movie” award that People’s Choice gives out? why should the Oscars have an award for that? they already honor the visual effects themselves. the people who go see these popcorn-action movies all the time know they’re not the kinds of films that win Oscars
Pete,
sadly, no words have ever been truer. Is it wrong that I laughed when I read that?
If the Malaysia plane is like Lost then people are going to be let down by the ending
In terms of current television shows, my favorites I like to watch are:
Scandal
Shameless (USA version)
Homeland
Glee
Hart of Dixie
and I’m going to check out House of Cards. My friend called it “television heroin”
Most of TV is crap. Most shows on AMC and HBO are crap actually. TEEN WOLF became crap the minute they kicked out Colton Haynes –they still got a lot to learn this TV folk, you don’t let your show go to shit with a move like that.
I can’t stop watching TABU on Netflix. Help.
BTW, I don’t mean to sound uncaring, but does anyone else see the strange parallels between this missing Malaysia plane, and the show Lost?
For the record, I really hope they find the plane, so the families can have closure.
I don’t know if I could compare a television show to a movie. It’s too apples and oranges. But, I think that it’s for certain that some tv shows are more exciting than some movies. I think that Lost was a brilliant television show, but in no way could have been a movie. I haven’t seen any True Detective, since I don’t get HBO. Plus, I don’t really watch television shows when they “air” on tv. I wait until they can stream a whole season on Netflix.
One show that I think might have made a good movie is FX’s The Bridge.
“One category represents the effects-driven films — Best Visual Effects. It simply isn’t sufficient now. They need a separate category for the kinds of films they don’t like to award for Best Picture, the same way they’ve done for Foreign Language film and Animated Feature”
If they do that, then it becomes the People’s Choice Awards. When comedies start to be more respected around town, will they need a separate category for them too? What about horror films or action films? Skyfall wasn’t effects-driven but is probably one of the most critically acclaimed action films. On a bigger scale, the same goes for The Dark Knight. Where do you fit those? I don’t like the idea. If you do it, then Best Picture is not Best Picture anymore. You put it at the level of the Golden Globe for Best Drama and the Best Picture Oscar just loses all its relevance. Why would anyone campaign or care if everyone goes home with a gold star!
If you separate the categories, you don’t help the bias. You actually make the audience see those movies as effects-driven an nothing more.
You put Life of Pi and Transformers on the same category. Can you imagine a year where there’s not enough worthy contenders and we end up with the likes of Transformers and the next 300 sequel.
It’s a bad idea. I won’t say “I agree or disagree,” I will just say that by doing that you put the kids away from mommy and daddy to play with planes (the visual effects driven films) and let the adults drink the finest vodka at the elite club (the rest of the best pic nominees)
On a more personal note, It’s kinda sad people can’t see Gravity as something more than an effects-driven film. You can say the same about Life of Pi but there you have people crying and having and emotional connection with the film. It was because of the effects? I don’t remember crying because the fur shading on Richard Parker was highly detailed. I do remember crying for the emotions it gave me. It made me think.
Gravity had Sandra fighting for life and people cheered up for her. People was able to feel the fear and loneliness of space like never before. You can achieve that on a Disney 3D Ride on Orlando? Fuck no. You need a vision like Cuarón had. Gravity isn’t successful because people say “LOOK AT THOSE VISUAL EFFECTS.” Is a triumph as a marriage of technology, science and storytelling. Yes, the screenplay maybe is not one of it’s high points, but storytelling goes beyond what words the writer puts on a paper or a Mac screen. You put the narrative on the audience and make the story an experience that’s faithful to the past (like 12 Years a Slave) faithful to the present (Her fits here if you ask me) and faithful to the future (ehm, Gravity I guess) Invite people to your feel your vision like it’s a club. That’s what Cuarón made with Gravity and that’s why its a critics and audiences darling (and now a winner of 7 Academy Awards including Directing!)
Brian,
I’d agree about Breaking Bad but there have been at least 20 films better than True Detective as a whole since 2007. Obviously this is entirely subjective, but I can think of many films I felt more satisfied by than TD:
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
A Prophet
Up
A Serious Man
The Social Network
Black Swan
Inception
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Toy Story 3
Hugo
Drive
A Separation
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Holy Motors
Zero Dark Thirty
Her
12 Years A Slave
Gravity
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Breaking Bad and True Detective outclass anything I’ve seen on the big screen since No Country for Old Men
So you are advocating that VFX films get their own Oscar because of bias when you spent the last month of Oscar season specifically arguing for bias to determine Best Picture.
Okay, so I finally got around to doing the final tally of the 11 pre-cursors + the Oscars. They would be: AFI top 10, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice, Directors Guild, Golden Globes, LAFC, NBR, NSFC, NYFCC, Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Academy Awards. Of the 12 in total, here’s how they broke-down:
*12 Years a Slave – 10 n / 5 w
*American Hustle – 10 n / 3 w
*Gravity – 9 n / 3 w
*Her – 8 n / 2 w
*Captain Phillips – 7 n / 0 w
*The Wolf of Wall Street – 7 n / 0 w
Inside Llewyn Davis – 5 n / 1 w
*Nebraska – 5 n / 0 w
*Dallas Buyers Club – 4 n / 0 w
Saving Mr. Banks – 4 n / 0 w
*Philomena – 3 n / 0 w
Fruitvale Station – 2 n / 0 w
August: Osage County – 1 n / 0 w
Blue Jasmine – 1 n / 0 w
The Butler – 1 n / 0 w
Lone Survivor – 1 n / 0 w
Prisoners – 1 n / 0 w
Rush – 1 n / 0 w
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – 1 n / 0 w
First trailer of James Brown’s biopic “Get On Up” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vptGSENcXeI
Sure, there are many great TV shows but even the best series are no match for the best movies cinema can offer. Also, the overall quality of cinema is waaaaaaaaaaay better than the overall quality of TV. I would rather rewatch Transformers 3 than watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory…
You can find good and bad in each format. For every TRUE DETECTIVE, there are ten TRANSFORMERS 4. But for every 12 YEARS A SLAVE, there are ten (or more) THE BACHELOR.
And don’t forget Martin Scorcese who directed the first episode of Boardwalk Empire and Katherine Bigelow who directed the rejected pilot The Miraculous Year.
There also seems to be a trend of getting a superstar director for the pilot episodes of TV series to hook viewers, then switch. Not for better or worse.
David Fincher – House Of Cards
Alfonso Cuaron – Believe
These are the two immediate ones I can think of. One successful, one not getting good feedback.
Speaking of Ava DuVernay,why is “Middle of Nowhere” impossible to be seen?
Sad to hear so many people involved somehow in film make these gloom and doom prognostications. Personally, while I recognized television has certainly made strides in the products it’s putting out, I would rather watch a great film than a great television series every time.
On the (maybe not so) sunny side – if Television truly overtakes movies, we’ll see the same type of thing on that end. We’ve already got the Shield TV show, multiple more superhero shows coming and Game of Thrones (though I do like the show a lot).
Another great state of the race. One thing though, 4 of the best picture nominees were directed by Americans. Her (Spike Jonze), Wolf of Wallstreet (Martin Scorsese), American Hustle (David O. Russell), and Nebraska (Alexander Payne).