[Rob Babcock]

Wow, not a peep about the Oscars yet, huh?   Well then, I'll dive in!

Fiiiiirst off, ARGO F@CK YOURSELF!   Weak sauce, man.  I enjoyed the flick but definitely didn't walk out thinking "best picture."  The opening describes how the CIA and US gov manipulated the situation until it blew up, using the Iranian people as pawns.  Then the whole rest of the film goes back to treating them as stock villains, there just to chase and in turn be outwitted by the Good Folks of the West.  Meh.  It felt suspenseful even though we knew how it would end, and in that respect it was a good movie.  But I think it sucked compared to Lincoln.  Say what you will about the historicity; the movie was fantastic.  Nearly every performance was stellar, and the entire thing was captivating (to me at least).  Much more ambitious to me.  To me there are "Three N's", three things that a good movie can do for us.  It can ennoble us, enlighten us or entertain us.  To win the Oscar it should do all three or at least do one or two really damn well.  I think Lincoln does all three, Argo does just one.  Mostly it's just a lot of masturbatory back-slapping about how Hollywood rocks and movies have power.  Again, meh.

Best Actor...man, how it must suck to be a great actor with everything on your resume but Best Actor, and have the misfortune to get your shot the same year DDL has a film!  Jackman was really superb, and there were other great performances in '12, but no one had a serious chance of dethroning DDL.  Nor should they!  DDL was transcendent as Lincoln, not so much portraying as channeling him.  Regardless of your opinion on the film, for the 30 years when we think of Lincoln's speeches we'll hear them in DDL's voice in our heads.  Simply an amazing performance by one of the greatest living actors.

Best Supporting Actress- Anne Hathaway was a slam-dunk in my opinion.  Les Mis was just okay to me, a bit overlong and unfocused, almost rambling.  And God bless Russel Crowe -a talented actor I very much admire and respect -  but the less said about his "singing" the better.   But Hathaway was astounding, and her Fantine was so amazing and heartbreaking it was hard to watch.  Well done, Oscar!

Best Actress- Well, this one was a bit of a letdown to me.  I think Jennifer Lawrence is a fine actress, and her performance was very good...but it didn't scream Oscar to me.  It didn't help that I felt that SLPB was unbearable.  Her innate likeability was the only thing that kept me from walking out half an hour in, although I didn't last to the end of the film.  I think Jessica Chastain was, if not robbed, then wronged.  I think the politics surrounding ZDT cast a pall over the academy and they were browbeaten into blackballing it (I noticed the investigation by the CIA was dropped the day after...hmmm... ).  Certainly the role of Maya carried more gravitas and displayed a wider range than the borderline-whacko played by Lawrence.  Oh, well.

Best Supporting Actor- I think Waltz was terrific, although to be fair he's as much the lead as Foxx.  Django was a guilty pleasure, wonderful for two hours but it went off the rails in the final act.  The award could just have easily wen to Tommy Lee Jones for an equally memorable performance in Lincoln.  Of course Waltz had more screen time and more opportunity to mug for the academy.  But don't get me wrong, he well deserves the Oscar.  I hope to see him in something a bit better in the future.

Well, that's all I can think of that struck me off the top of my head.  I didn't have a chance to see Life of Pi yet, so can't comment on Director.  I saw most of the films nominated, hopefully soon I can catch the ones I missed!

[decal]

Award shows= Maybe the reason why there has been no discussion about the oscars?

[TF1216]

Rob, would you mind reporting back once you catch "Life of Pi"?  I am curious what your take of the movie will be.  I will hold off until then.

[rodge827]

Seth rocked! 

         

[SteveFord]

I stopped watching shortly after William Shatner appeared and then that guy did his idiotic we saw your boobs song.
It's been a long time since I was in junior high school.

[ajzepp]

I love the movies, but ever since I heard that many of the voters don't even watch the actual films, I sort of lost interest in the Oscars. I'm also still bitter about Shakespeare in Love beating both Saving Private Ryan and, my favorite film of all time, Life is Beautiful.

[jimdgoulding]

Life is Beautiful is one I haven't seen but I did visit Amazon.com to see what it is about.  And, I read a few reviews.  There are over 250 of them.  Viewers are passionate about this film, indeed.  Thanks, Zepp.

[neekomax]

Wow, not a peep about the Oscars yet, huh?   Well then, I'll dive in!

Fiiiiirst off, ARGO F@CK YOURSELF!   Weak sauce, man.  I enjoyed the flick but definitely didn't walk out thinking "best picture."  The opening describes how the CIA and US gov manipulated the situation until it blew up, using the Iranian people as pawns.  Then the whole rest of the film goes back to treating them as stock villains, there just to chase and in turn be outwitted by the Good Folks of the West.  Meh.  It felt suspenseful even though we knew how it would end, and in that respect it was a good movie. 

^ THIS. I dunno what all the hype was about with Argo. I WANTED to like it. Besides the very good points you make, Rob, how about the fact that there was ZERO character development in this Oscar winning film  . How exactly was I supposed to care about any of these people (and thus the film) when they were less fleshed out than your average character in a Zynga iPhone game? Oh, I'm sure Tony Mendez was a very interesting dude, you'd just never know it from the movie. Did you know that he was a forgery expert? I know, 'cause of the 15 seconds during which he was shown hand drawing fake passport stamps. Fascinating! Also, the 'fake movie pretense' angle was (potentially) interesting (except for when it turned out not to be), but what about the story behind, oh I dunno, the ACTUAL HOSTAGES THAT WERE HELD FOR 400 SOMETING DAYS???!!!! Just, wat? The better story was: People take refuge at an diplomatic residence, CIA guy goes over and comes up with a clever plan, they carry out the plan, it works.. ? Plot twist: There is none.

Can one of you apparently ubiquitous people who loved this film explain why? I... I... just don't... I can't...

/end rant

[jimdgoulding]

I watched it last might and while I enjoyed the film, I didn't think it was Best Picture material.  That's based on my experience of past films and not on this years competition which I have yet to see.  Well, the night before I watched Skyfall and also enjoyed it a lot.  Bardem can do about any kind of role with some kind of magnetism!!  I wish I could say the same for the Bond actor but cannot.  He was particularly droll in this one, imo.  No worries, I know what opinions are like already.  I did like him a lot in a British crime caper film of a couple years ago that I can't just now recall the name of.

Ah ha!  Layer Cake.

[Rob Babcock]

Bardem would have been a worth contender, too.  I think it's fair to say Skyfall was at least as good as Argo but not the kind of film that gets Oscar notice.

[jimdgoulding]

Bardem would have been a worth contender, too.  I think it's fair to say Skyfall was at least as good as Argo but not the kind of film that gets Oscar notice.

I bought the DVD and am looking forward to seeing it again.  Mesmerising sets and film editing. 

[django11]

Wow, not a peep about the Oscars yet, huh?   Well then, I'll dive in!

Fiiiiirst off, ARGO F@CK YOURSELF!   Weak sauce, man.  I enjoyed the flick but definitely didn't walk out thinking "best picture."  The opening describes how the CIA and US gov manipulated the situation until it blew up, using the Iranian people as pawns.  Then the whole rest of the film goes back to treating them as stock villains, there just to chase and in turn be outwitted by the Good Folks of the West.  Meh.  It felt suspenseful even though we knew how it would end, and in that respect it was a good movie.  But I think it sucked compared to Lincoln.  Say what you will about the historicity;

The word up here is that Argo is very far from being accurate as well:  "Mr. Taylor (Canadian ambassador to Iran) said that, while the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency did contribute significantly to the rescue, history must reflect that it was overwhelmingly a Canadian mission."..."He applauded former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for appearing on CNN on Thursday night to assert that, “90 per cent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian.”

“I think it was pretty well clarified by President Carter’s remarks,” Mr. Taylor said today. “He said it was 90 per cent to 10 per cent. I could make it 85 to 15, but I can rest with 90-10.”"

 Hollywood entertainment  not history...

[steve in jersey]

Forgetting the "Historical Accuracy" for a second , does anyone else get the impression that the award for "Best Picture" in recent years is more a matter of Hollywood trying to promote more interest in critically acclaimed films that were'nt necessarily big earners at the box office !

[ajzepp]

Life is Beautiful is one I haven't seen but I did visit Amazon.com to see what it is about.  And, I read a few reviews.  There are over 250 of them.  Viewers are passionate about this film, indeed.  Thanks, Zepp.

Let me know if you see it...I actually use this film as a litmus test of sorts when I date a girl. Part of the reason why I married my ex-wife was because she totally got this film, which not everyone does. (If not for that little drinking/drug issue and her infidelity, it would have been a great marriage, too! lol) I ask them to watch it and I tell them that I'll have two questions for them after they finish watching it: 1) Which parts of the film did you find funny, and 2) Describe in one sentence what the film was about. I really think the way people react to this movie can tell you a lot about them. It's the only time I ever recall feeling unable to leave the theater when it was over, and I remember there being many others that day who felt just as paralyzed. I was a mess and I can only watch it every few years because of how deeply it affects me, but I really believe that everyone should see it.

[THROWBACK]

I enjoyed Rob Babcock's take on things. I saw a few of the movies but not all, so I can't make many comparisons. Lincoln: DDL and Sally Field were terrific, but I do not like it when too much artistic license is taken with history. Also, I hated the opening in which African American soldiers recite the Gettysburg Address from memory. Way too hokey for me. Also, I thought Tommy Lee Jones "chewed the scenery" too much in his trademark TLJ way. ARGO: pretty good for capturing the tension of the era. I arrived in Tehran for negotions with the Iranian Air Force on September 8th, 1978, the second day of the riots that kicked off the revolution, and it was very scary. Call me inconsistent, but I did not mind the historical inaccuracy of the final chase scene at the airport.

[jimdgoulding]

The final chase scene was a classic case of tension and release designed to exercise the audience from one extreme to the other.  It's a gimmick, in other words, and been around forever.

[JerryM]

I'm glad Anne Hathaway was recognized. She deserved the nod. 

[Rob Babcock]

Let me know if you see it...I actually use this film as a litmus test of sorts when I date a girl. Part of the reason why I married my ex-wife was because she totally got this film, which not everyone does.

Not that it's deep or profound, but I'm that way with The Princess Bride.  If a girl I'm seeing doesn't like that film we're probably not going far together!  My ex-wife thought it was stupid when we watched it together...in retrospect that should've told me something!

[thunderbrick]

As you wish!   

[ajzepp]

Not that it's deep or profound, but I'm that way with The Princess Bride.  If a girl I'm seeing doesn't like that film we're probably not going far together!  My ex-wife thought it was stupid when we watched it together...in retrospect that should've told me something!

lol...I really think if there's a film that you connect with, you can tell a lot about someone else based on their reaction. My ex wife and I got along great until we actually got married