Of course not!

first off..Pulp Fiction is my favourite movie of all time and i really wish it had won best picture... but, that being said, it is wrong to denounce Forrest Gump as a bad film...i don't think any other film has come closer in balancing heart-rending emotion with a good share of humour... and you guys know it.

also i'm surprised goodfellas didn't win... i haven't seen dances with wolves, but i don't think it can be better than the martin scorsese classic...

as for rain man.. well i love the film... but only because of the scintillating lead performances by hoffman and cruise.. i think 'the accidental tourist' was a more sensitively made film and should have won...

of course, something that really puzzles me is Rocky beating 'Network' in 1976... probably the worst best picture verdict...

however, the academy has been "dead on" many times...i think titanic, chicago, gladiator, the silence of the lambs, driving miss daisy, american beauty, the departed and unforgiven are the most shining instances...

films like crash,million dollar baby and amadeus won only because their competitors were relatively weaker...

one film that had stiff competition to beat and won fairly is titanic.. one film that had stiff competition and won unfairly was forrest gump.. though i still love that movie to death

quote:

amadeus won only because their competitors were relatively weaker...

Uh, wait... are we talking about the same Amadeus?
The absolutely amazing picture that deserved every award it won???

[quote=meg]however, the academy has been "dead on" many times...i think titanic, chicago, gladiator, the silence of the lambs, driving miss daisy, american beauty, the departed and unforgiven are the most shining instances...[/quote]

You are insane.

I second that American Beauty, The Departed wtf do you consider a good film if not those. American Beauty is one of the most poignant and humorous pieces of American Cinema ever made, featuring a stellar performance by Kevin Spacey (and the rest of the case). Never has a mid-life crisis been so entertaining and moving, the downward spiral of each flawed character's lives, the brilliant finale, to say that American Beauty didn't deserve best picture is a crime.

The Departed which was another brilliant film from Scorcese which was largely responsible for helping me get over my irrational distaste for Leonardo DiCaprio. Not only this but it was a very intense, well-acted, well-written, well-directed film, what more could you want from a film.

The problem I have with The Departed is that most of it is almost shot-for-shot remade from the Hong Kong movie it was based on (Infernal Affairs). All Scorcese added, IMO, was a ridiculous amount of endless yapping. It was still a good, well-made movie, but IA hits all the same points while being an hour shorter, and having a far less pat "Hollywood" ending. Now that I've seen that there's no point at all in ever watching The Departed again.

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

quote:

having a far less pat "Hollywood" ending

I wasn't aware that killing almost all of the main characters was very Hollywood

In the sense that all loose ends are neatly tied up and resolved, and the "bad guy" is punished - i.e., "crime doesn't pay." It isn't spoiling too much for me to say that the ending to Infernal Affairs is more ambiguous - it's virtually the same except for the very last scene.

I wouldn't say either is "Best Picture" caliber, though they're both very well made movies, and The Departed is definitely not among the worst films to win Best Picture. But The Departed just feels pointless to me after having seen IA. It offers nothing novel unless you have a strong attachment to Boston.

quote:

But The Departed just feels pointless to me after having seen IA. It offers nothing novel unless you have a strong attachment to Boston.

I see. Having not seen IA (and not really caring to if you're telling me it's basically the same movie) I can't really compare the two.

I do disagree about the whole "Hollywood ending" still. To me, the Hollywood ending is "Everyone lives basically happily ever after, everything in the movie's world is in balance, etc." At the end of The Departed, nothing is really set right, except for Mark Wahlberg killing Matt Damon but is that even justified? The whole movie, the question of right and wrong is constantly being brought up, and yes, Matt Damon's character was scum and I felt relieved to see him get killed but at the same time, it wasn't like I walked away from the movie feeling satisfied. I really wanted Leo's character to live and pull through, and I think most everyone who saw the movie wanted the same thing. Had Scorsese done this, then yes, I could see how the whole "Hollywood ending" would feel a little tacked on.

As it stands, while the movie is not one of my favorites, it's certainly better than a lot of the movies in the past few years. I personally think movies have been in a downward spiral for the past seven or eight years - or my standards are just getting higher - or both.

quote:

Originally posted by ProfAmaretto:
As it stands, while the movie is not one of my favorites, it's certainly better than a lot of the movies in the past few years. I personally think movies have been in a downward spiral for the past seven or eight years - or my standards are just getting higher - or both.

I don't really see how people can make comments like this with the amount of great cinema that has been produced in recent years.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Lives of Others
Little Miss Sunshine
The Royal Tenenbaums
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Children of Men
Once
Pan's Labyrinth
Starting out in the Evening
Ratatouille
Capote

To name a few off the top of my head. There's great films being made every year, maybe they're not gonna be wide releases that everyone is going to see, but cinema is alive and very well.

When it comes to quality of movies, last year was a fantastic year for movies, one of the best during the past decade while it seems to mean while this year the quality of movies is a bit split between not as many great movies but better mainstream movies so on average the quality it seems to me is getting better while in terms of classics and great movies it seems to be hit and miss, depending on the year.

I don't really see how you can say something like that so early in the year, when the majority of movies going for Oscars and the like won't be released until around October.

quote:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Lives of Others
Little Miss Sunshine
The Royal Tenenbaums
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Children of Men
Once
Pan's Labyrinth
Starting out in the Evening
Ratatouille
Capote

Many of the movies you list here are indeed quite good. I'm not saying movies suck all the way around, but it seems like, with every year that passes, my list of movies that I want to see either remains about the same in number (between 5-10 a year) or decreases.

Some of the "top critical favorites" of the last couple years like Ratatouille and Pan's Labyrinth I found to be disappointing. They weren't bad movies by any means - but everyone I knew that saw them raved about them, best films of the year and all that. I try not to let people's opinions get the best of me, but when most everything I read/everyone I know tells me "I HAVE to see this movie!" of course I have high expectations. This makes me very skeptical about seeing critically praised movies.

Perhaps I'm also just not into movies as much as when I was a kid. I used to watch all kinds of movies and enjoy them. But now, as I'm in my early twenties with a job, full-time school, etc. if I'm gonna sit down and watch a 2-2 1/2 hour movie, it better be awesome.

Some recent movies I put in this category: I'm Not There, There Will Be Blood, Lost In Translation, Michael Clayton (an underrated film, this one), Eternal Sunshine. Movies that I'd like to see: anything in 2007 with Philip Seymour Hoffman (love that guy), The Dark Knight (again), Diving Bell (hear lots of good things, but don't know much about it - probably for the best).

I actually wasn't a huge fan of Pan's Labyrinth, but I still thought it was a good movie.

I'd have to say 2007 was a great year for Philip Seymour Hoffman:

Charlie Wilson's War
The Savages
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

All are definitely worth seeing, Charlie Wilson's War probably being my favorite of the three. After watching I'm Not There it was probably one of the more underrated films of 2007 to me, along with Charlie Wilson's War. Definitely you should see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Personally I had a ridiculous list of movies to see in 2007, of which there were a few critically acclaimed letdowns namely:

The Host, which to me wasn't anything that special, besides an interesting and I suppose allegorical end concerning agent orange.

No Country For Old Men, sporting an amazing performance by Javier Bardem and everything else just good, it didn't quite live up to the hype.

I also could only get 10 minutes into Atonement, something about the acting and direction just killed me (My friends also told me Across the Universe was spectacular......).

I can understand how it can be aggravating though to expect a great movie and get a decent to good movie instead.

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:
Children of Men

This. Should've won the Oscar that The Departed got. An adaptation that actually surpasses its source material in some ways.

The problem I had with 2007 was that many of the films I saw with the most potential to be great dropped the ball at the ending. There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men immediately come to mind.

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Little Miss Sunshine

Diving Bell and Butterfly was tedious and the "imaginative" cinematography and direction was trite I thought.

Little Miss Sunshine is the most emotionally heavyhanded and disingenuous movie I've ever seen. I wasn't charmed by it the first time I saw it (like 99% of the audience) and the repeat viewing I gave it left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. The characters are such caricatures in the way that they are etched, but we're expected to treat them as dynamic and interesting. The kid's teenage rebellion and ultimate realization to say "fuck it" when standing on the dock with Steve Carrel was a joke (Dano also almost singlehandedly brought down There Will Be Blood). Greg Kinnear being a motivational speaker is maybe the most obvious metaphorical job choice possible, considering the message of the film. It dripped with saccharine charm and shallow character developments.

quote:

Originally posted by DFelon204409:

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Little Miss Sunshine

Diving Bell and Butterfly was tedious and the "imaginative" cinematography and direction was trite I thought.

Little Miss Sunshine is the most emotionally heavyhanded and disingenuous movie I've ever seen. I wasn't charmed by it the first time I saw it (like 99% of the audience) and the repeat viewing I gave it left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. The characters are such caricatures in the way that they are etched, but we're expected to treat them as dynamic and interesting. The kid's teenage rebellion and ultimate realization to say "fuck it" when standing on the dock with Steve Carrel was a joke (Dano also almost singlehandedly brought down There Will Be Blood). Greg Kinnear being a motivational speaker is maybe the most obvious metaphorical job choice possible, considering the message of the film. It dripped with saccharine charm and shallow character developments.

Sorry that you feel that way, you're missing out though.

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:

quote:

Originally posted by DFelon204409:

quote:

Originally posted by Liberalkid:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Little Miss Sunshine

Diving Bell and Butterfly was tedious and the "imaginative" cinematography and direction was trite I thought.

Little Miss Sunshine is the most emotionally heavyhanded and disingenuous movie I've ever seen. I wasn't charmed by it the first time I saw it (like 99% of the audience) and the repeat viewing I gave it left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. The characters are such caricatures in the way that they are etched, but we're expected to treat them as dynamic and interesting. The kid's teenage rebellion and ultimate realization to say "fuck it" when standing on the dock with Steve Carrel was a joke (Dano also almost singlehandedly brought down There Will Be Blood). Greg Kinnear being a motivational speaker is maybe the most obvious metaphorical job choice possible, considering the message of the film. It dripped with saccharine charm and shallow character developments.

Sorry that you feel that way, you're missing out though.

The only thing I missed out on is the 4 hours I spent on that movie.

I became a member just to reply to this topic.
Thank you!
Seeing everyone here who disses "Beautiful Mind" makes me feel like I said "Calgon, take me away!!" and someone listened! I'm home! I will say it loud and say it proud: I HATE "A Beautiful Mind"!
But go back a bit: Someone mentioned "How Green Was My Valley" in '41. Well, I've never seen it, but I HAVE seen "Citizen Kane," "The Maltese Falcon," and "Suspicion," which it beat out. It must be pretty good.[/sarcasm]
And how about "Gone With the Wind"('39)? Has anyone here read the book? It's FAR superior to that overlong soap opera of a movie.
And ... jump forward to ... 1992!
Yeah, I said it!
I saw "Unforgiven" in '92, I saw it again in the late '90s, thinking, "ok, I must have missed SOMEthing; then I saw it AGAIN a few years ago practically begging it to show me why it's good! Each time, I just sit there, watching it, thinking, "yeah, this is definitely a movie." (And I only occasionally laugh at Eastwood's acting "ability.") But I still haven't found the reason why the film is good, let alone Oscar-worthy. I know I will watch it again. Waiting ... hoping ...
We definitely went on a bender there in the mid-90s. I blame it on economic and political success and comfort. People need things to rage against in order to make good art. The 2000s got much better for film.