95th Academy Awards (OSCAR NIGHT): You're all feckin' boring!

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

16 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

It's interesting to see EEAAO provoke such visceral reactions. I guess that makes me unusual, because really enjoyed it, but didn't love it.

Gasp!

Actually, that's how I feel about Banshees of Inisherin. "Like-not-love". Just north of "3.6 Roentgen", if you will.

But there are people who legit love that film.  I guess I don't get it. Still, the nomination was deserved.

12 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I watched Banshees and recognized it as a well made well acted film… but… I do not understand why it was marketed as a comedy.  That was a dark drama if it was anything.  There was nothing funny in that film.  

GASP!!!

[Annara Snow]

15 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I felt really bad for the donkey…

If you really want to feel bad for a donkey, but as the protagonist, watch EO (which was nominated for the Best International Picture). It's a great movie, but there's nothing comedic about it.

This was a year of donkeys in notable dramatic roles.

 

 

 

[IFR]

While I wasn't amused by the screwball humor in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, I found Banshees of Inisherin to be hilarious throughout. Even the premise makes me smile (a guy so desparately wants out of a friendship he threatens to mutilate himself with each further interaction, and the other guy is so desperately clingy he simply can't accept the situation, no matter how clear it becomes that the first guy is absolutely serious ).

It wasn't my favorite McDonagh movie (I think In Bruges and Three Billboards were better), but it was a pretty fun movie.

And I very much preferred the tone to EEAO. If the humor and tone of Banshees was transplanted into EEAO while keeping the general concept, then I probably would have loved EEAO.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, IFR said:

While I wasn't amused by the screwball humor in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, I found Banshees of Inisherin to be hilarious throughout. Even the premise makes me smile (a guy so desparately wants out of a friendship he threatens to mutilate himself with each further interaction, and the other guy is so desperately clingy he simply can't accept the situation, no matter how clear it becomes that the first guy is absolutely serious ).

It wasn't my favorite McDonagh movie (I think In Bruges and Three Billboards were better), but it was a pretty fun movie.

And I very much preferred the tone to EEAO. If the humor and tone of Banshees was transplanted into EEAO while keeping the general concept, then I probably would have loved EEAO.

 

The man mutilated himself… repeatedly… that’s not funny.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

 

The man mutilated himself… repeatedly… that’s not funny.

But he threw his fingers at the guys door? How can't you laugh at that???

Like I said before, not only is it not funny, it's boring and benefitted from this being a relatively weak year. 

[IFR]

22 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

 

The man mutilated himself… repeatedly… that’s not funny.

Oh, it's funny because I chuckled repeatedly. EEAO excited a lot of eyerolls from me, so it's not funny.

I feel like this is something we can successfully debate out, until one of us finally acknowledges that our own reactions to either movie should be ignored and concede that objectively speaking one of these movies is funny and the other isn't. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

23 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

But he threw his fingers at the guys door? How can't you laugh at that???

Like I said before, not only is it not funny, it's boring and benefitted from this being a relatively weak year. 

 

I don’t find people mutulating themselves funny.  But that’s me.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

But he threw his fingers at the guys door? How can't you laugh at that???

Like I said before, not only is it not funny, it's boring and benefitted from this being a relatively weak year. 

I found that pretty dark myself. 

[Kalbear]

My wife got ran over by a cat while we were sleeping and the cat stepped on her face, clawing it. We bolted up and went to the bathroom to see how bad it was and, folks, blood was EVERYWHERE. Half of her face covered in blood, dripping down, all over. We looked at her in the mirror, looked at each other...

And just started laughing. 

So yeah, a guy's fingers being thrown at someone in a petulant plea? That sounds funny to me too.

[Ran]

11 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

I found that pretty dark myself. 

It's a very dark comedy.

I think the mutilation has to be read as surreal. No one treats it like they would if some mad person really was cutting off his fingers and leaving them at people's doorsteps, going to the pub spurting blood as he gets some musicians together, etc.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 minutes ago, Kalnestk Oblast said:

My wife got ran over by a cat while we were sleeping and the cat stepped on her face, clawing it. We bolted up and went to the bathroom to see how bad it was and, folks, blood was EVERYWHERE. Half of her face covered in blood, dripping down, all over. We looked at her in the mirror, looked at each other...

And just started laughing. 

So yeah, a guy's fingers being thrown at someone in a petulant plea? That sounds funny to me too.

Ouch… I really hope she’s okay… I’ve also had an occasional deep scratch caused by a startled cat.  I do take your point… that said… permanent self mutilation… is something else entirely.

[Cas Stark]

11 minutes ago, Ran said:

It's a very dark comedy.

I think the mutilation has to be read as surreal. No one treats it like they would if some mad person really was cutting off his fingers and leaving them at people's doorsteps, going to the pub spurting blood as he gets some musicians together, etc.

 

Yes.  That said, while I usually like a dark comedy, this was a little too dark for me, and more dark than comedy by a long shot.

[Heartofice]

The trailer definitely pushed the movie as a comedy, and I think I would like the movie a lot more if the comedy elements really came off. There is something about the script that is bordering on hilarious and it was really close to being a surrealist classic of the comedy genre. But I don't think there was quite enough bite to the lines or enough memorable conversations to stick with me.

In comparison to something like The Guard which just has so many classic lines and back and forth, or In Bruges, there just wasn't enough there.

 

[maarsen]

On 3/14/2023 at 7:18 PM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

That's my point. No one got it at the time. Even people who are supposed to be more sophisticated in their appreciation of the art than us proles. 

I think this is what Coppola was getting at when he said he thought they were, "despicable". Pure studio driven films. For a guy like him, the real innovation of the MCU isn't the shared universe; it's reducing the Director to the role of hired hand. 

Did you know that a common slang term during the 30s in Hollywood for the director of a movie was 'the brother-in-law'? I stopped taking the Academy awards seriously back in the 70s when Stanley Kubrick lost with A Clockwork Orange, a movie people are still watching and discussing over 50 years later. Before that 2001: A Space Odyssey also failed to win, despite being called the greatest movie ever made by a great number of critics, and still being watched today.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

12 minutes ago, maarsen said:

Did you know that a common slang term during the 30s in Hollywood for the director of a movie was 'the brother-in-law'? I stopped taking the Academy awards seriously back in the 70s when Stanley Kubrick lost with A Clockwork Orange, a movie people are still watching and discussing over 50 years later. Before that 2001: A Space Odyssey also failed to win, despite being called the greatest movie ever made by a great number of critics, and still being watched today.

Critics also slammed both films at the time of their releases. The former horrified many. A lot of the best films ever made were not initially successful both with critics and at the box office. 

[Winterfell is Burning]

15 minutes ago, maarsen said:

Did you know that a common slang term during the 30s in Hollywood for the director of a movie was 'the brother-in-law'? I stopped taking the Academy awards seriously back in the 70s when Stanley Kubrick lost with A Clockwork Orange, a movie people are still watching and discussing over 50 years later. Before that 2001: A Space Odyssey also failed to win, despite being called the greatest movie ever made by a great number of critics, and still being watched today.

Fun fact: Jack Nicholson was the one that presented BP the year The French Connection won despite the fact he wasn't that big of a star yet because dozens of people refused for fear that A Clockwork Orange would have won and they would have their names associated with it. Mind you, TFC is still a great film, though not as good as A Clockwork Orange and The Last Picture Show.

[maarsen]

6 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Critics also slammed both films at the time of their releases. The former horrified many. A lot of the best films ever made were not initially successful both with critics and at the box office. 

Pauline Kael in particular disliked 2001. She did however go back and revise her opinion later and liked it a lot more. The audiences were the ones that knew. 2001 ran continuously for years at the Cinesphere in Ontario Place. Of course watching it in Imax was a huge draw. 50 years from now people will still be watching and discussing Stanley Kubrick and his genius. All those others? Not so much.

[Winterfell is Burning]

5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Critics also slammed both films at the time of their releases. The former horrified many. A lot of the best films ever made were not initially successful both with critics and at the box office. 

Actually, 2001 was the biggest box office hit of 1968 in the US (counting re-releases, the 2nd at the time) and a Clockwork Orange the 7th.  But both were extremely divisive- as it happened with pretty much every Kubrick film, even the most popular and successful, who became more acclaimed over time

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, maarsen said:

50 years from now people will still be watching and discussing Stanley Kubrick and his genius. All those others? Not so much.

Funnily enough, this morning I was listening to a podcast asking if we overvalue superstar athletes winning championships, and if they don't do we overly diminish their accomplishments. The analogy they used was films and directors. Hitchcock never won an Oscar, but he's probably one of the five best directors ever and his works tower over lesser films of the time that did win BP. In film there are numerous examples of this, but they concluded athletes typically don't receive the same amount of love long after their time had passed and their legacies could be judged with a fairer eye.  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

Actually, 2001 was the biggest box office hit of 1968 in the US (counting re-releases, the 2nd at the time) and a Clockwork Orange the 7th.  But both were extremely divisive- as it happened with pretty much every Kubrick film, even the most popular and successful, who became more acclaimed over time

Box office isn't the subject though. A lot of critics didn't understand and/or like 2001 initially, but came around later. ACO had way more issues and even had to be pulled from theaters. A quick Google search confirms just how polarizing the reaction from critics were at the time of the films releases.