Topics in the Title :D

 

Who do you think was the Most Undeserving Winner of an Oscar Award, since they began? ^_^

James Cameron - Best Director - Titanic... An overblown, preposterous piece of sh!t.... Crappy Special Effects too, frankly I've seen better effects on the average PS2 game... Contrast this film to his greatest achievements - "The Terminator", "T2", "Aliens"...... It is garbage, simple as... "True Lies" was more fun... Whoever voted for this pile of c**p over the fantastic, Hard Boiled "LA Confidential" frankly needs their head examining...

 

"Forrest Gump".... Yeah, cos that piece of c**p was better than "Pulp Fiction" wasn't it????? :angry: :angry: :angry:. Hmm, let's see, which film regularly features very highly (Top 3 at least...) in just about every Film Lover's, critics and Film Mags' 'all time top 10' lists??? Which film out of those two continues to be quoted verbatim in just about every Film Geek conversation, movie mag, etc...? Which film out of those two inspired a whole bloody generation of film-makers...? That would be Tarantino's exceptional cinematic work of art....

 

 

James Cameron - Best Director - Titanic... An overblown, preposterous piece of sh!t.... Crappy Special Effects too, frankly I've seen better effects on the average PS2 game... Contrast this film to his greatest achievements - "The Terminator", "T2", "Aliens"...... It is garbage, simple as... "True Lies" was more fun... Whoever voted for this pile of c**p over the fantastic, Hard Boiled "LA Confidential" frankly needs their head examining...

 

But aren't you just criticizing the film here (as opposed to Cameron's direction)? Cameron became infamously attached to Titanic on a personal level, and allegedly spent years researching the physical Titanic itself as well as much of the lore surrounding its sinking. He was responsible for massive overspending and delays because he was extremely particular in the set (it was apparently authentic to the slightest detail) and direction. Editing the film was difficult because he was reluctant to cut anything from the film. If all of these are true (I admit that was all just stuff I heard at the time), his case sounds similar to other "great directors" in film history. I think Titanic suffers from a trite story and an awful script, but the direction wasn't bad...

I know I've ranted on this forum about it before, but I think last year's Best Picture win for Crash discredited the entire Academy severely. Every one of the other nominated films was superior. Crash was perfect for a self-absorbed, Los Angeles-based, PC, rich, Academically liberal film critic. Which is why audiences and critics in the rest of the US and the rest of the world largely ignored or panned the film. The Academy proved to be the bunch of self-congratulating snobs who appear once a year to embrace and award each other at the Oscars and then dissapear back to their Malibu compounds. Crash felt so fake, it felt totally designed for that Hollywood crowd, and they embraced it unsurprisingly. And people wonder why foreign and independent films have such a hard time during awards season...

I agree with Scott about Titanic... it was a miserable, nonsense of a film.... dreadful script, wooden acting and awful CGI.

 

As for Crash, I rather enjoyed it.

 

Love your avatar thingy, Consie... :P I was watching some old John Waters movies this afternoon....

 

The nomination that baffles me totally this year was Mark Wahlberg for Departed in the Best Suppoting Actor category.... when a truly GREAT performance like James McAvoy's in Last King of Scotland was overlooked - why oh why was the shockingly bad Wahlberg on that list? He barely gets any screentime, anyway, and the little he does have he messes up....

I know I've ranted on this forum about it before, but I think last year's Best Picture win for Crash discredited the entire Academy severely. Every one of the other nominated films was superior. Crash was perfect for a self-absorbed, Los Angeles-based, PC, rich, Academically liberal film critic. Which is why audiences and critics in the rest of the US and the rest of the world largely ignored or panned the film. The Academy proved to be the bunch of self-congratulating snobs who appear once a year to embrace and award each other at the Oscars and then dissapear back to their Malibu compounds. Crash felt so fake, it felt totally designed for that Hollywood crowd, and they embraced it unsurprisingly. And people wonder why foreign and independent films have such a hard time during awards season...

 

With the benefit of hindsight, and given the fact that "Babel" takes the general idea that "Crash" attempted and did so much more with it and with a lot more substance, then the likes of "Goodnight and Goodluck", "Capote" and "Syriana" might justifiably feel incredibly cheated.... But I dont think "Crash" is really such a dreadful film, certainly nowhere near as dire as "Titanic", "Beautiful Mind" or "Million Dollar Baby" (what was Clint thinking of...? How can you go from something as superb as "Unforgiven" to that?? Still, "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" sure as hell make up for it..), that's for damn sure....

 

Oh, hang on, Ron fukkin' Howard and his piece of c**p "A Beautiful Mind".... Two completely undeserved Oscars... I'd forgotten about those..... Mind you, I think just about everyone has forgotten about "A Beautiful Mind" tbh..... Probably the worst film ever to win a Best Picture Oscar.....

 

But aren't you just criticizing the film here (as opposed to Cameron's direction)? Cameron became infamously attached to Titanic on a personal level, and allegedly spent years researching the physical Titanic itself as well as much of the lore surrounding its sinking. He was responsible for massive overspending and delays because he was extremely particular in the set (it was apparently authentic to the slightest detail) and direction. Editing the film was difficult because he was reluctant to cut anything from the film. If all of these are true (I admit that was all just stuff I heard at the time), his case sounds similar to other "great directors" in film history. I think Titanic suffers from a trite story and an awful script, but the direction wasn't bad...

 

No, I think Cameron's direction leaves something to be desired as well tbh.... For someone who supposedly spent years researching the subject, to take such incredible liberties with the historical facts and just completely failing to understand the mores surrounding Class and Societal strictures of the period (in 1912, an upper-class woman would NEVER mix with the 'lower classes' travelling in 'Steerage'...) as well as slandering several actual historical figures, it just beggars belief to be honest... One would've thought given the end results, he was just making it up as he went along and to hell with such piddling trifles as 'facts'..... I dont think "Titanic" can be held up in the same light as "Citizen Kane" or even "Heaven's Gate" (which truly is a totally misjudged film when you see it in all its 220-minute glory, as opposed to the hack-job that was done on it for Cinema exhibition....)

Love your avatar thingy, Consie... :P I was watching some old John Waters movies this afternoon....

 

The nomination that baffles me totally this year was Mark Wahlberg for Departed in the Best Suppoting Actor category.... when a truly GREAT performance like James McAvoy's in Last King of Scotland was overlooked - why oh why was the shockingly bad Wahlberg on that list? He barely gets any screentime, anyway, and the little he does have he messes up....

 

I can't stand Wahlberg, but maybe it's because I remember too well the days when he used to drop trou singing awful hip/hop... I just can't take him seriously!

 

Yes, Waters is amazing, though I do admit that some of his more obscure pics ("Woman Trouble" etc.) confuse me more than Serial Mom, which is AMAZING.

With the benefit of hindsight, and given the fact that "Babel" takes the general idea that "Crash" attempted and did so much more with it and with a lot more substance, then the likes of "Goodnight and Goodluck", "Capote" and "Syriana" might justifiably feel incredibly cheated.... But I dont think "Crash" is really such a dreadful film, certainly nowhere near as dire as "Titanic", "Beautiful Mind" or "Million Dollar Baby" (what was Clint thinking of...? How can you go from something as superb as "Unforgiven" to that?? Still, "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" sure as hell make up for it..), that's for damn sure....

 

Oh, hang on, Ron fukkin' Howard and his piece of c**p "A Beautiful Mind".... Two completely undeserved Oscars... I'd forgotten about those..... Mind you, I think just about everyone has forgotten about "A Beautiful Mind" tbh..... Probably the worst film ever to win a Best Picture Oscar.....

 

I fell asleep during A Beautiful Mind. And since then I can't STAND Russell Crowe or Jennifer Connelly, that is no surprise. Did that win Best Picture, really?? Million Dollar Baby was boring as well to me. I wonder, though, is a film that bores me worse than one that offends me (ex: Crash)?

I wonder, though, is a film that bores me worse than one that offends me (ex: Crash)?

 

Hmm, tricky one, I would posit that being bored is probably worse, at least when you're offended by something you're actually stirred into making some kind of response...

Consie..

 

Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos are Waters at his very tasteless best! 2 of my favourites....

There sure are plenty of examples (like mentioned, Forest Gump vs Pulp Fiction. I mean, I almost fell asleep

during FG) from the last 15 years or so of poor flicks that have won the best pic. Not only

FG but also films like The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Schindler's List etc. And I have avoided a few

which I think will be total c**p (Chigago, Million Dollar Baby, and Braveheart). Films that deserved to win it

include Silence Of The Lambs, Gladiator, LOTR 3, Titanic (even thou LA Confidential is great I think Titanic was

such a phenomena that it deserved the prize).

 

Last year Brokeback Mountain was certainly a much better film than Crash and should have won but it was so

obvious already a few weeks before the ceremony (after the no-barriers campaing from Crash-team) that

Hollywood was not going to be liberal enough to award best pic for Brokeback.

 

This year it seemed that there weren't that many good flicks to begin with and that's why a remake won it. I think

that the simple fact is that the voters are very rarely ready to even nominate a foreig language pic for best

picture. Pan's Labyrinth should have been nominated. I think the biggest jokes among the bigger

categories this year were best foreign pic and best supporting actress. Pan should have bagged the other and pretty

much anyone else than Jennifer Hudson the other.

There sure are plenty of examples (like mentioned, Forest Gump vs Pulp Fiction. I mean, I almost fell asleep

during FG) from the last 15 years or so of poor flicks that have won the best pic. Not only

FG but also films like The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Schindler's List etc. And I have avoided a few

which I think will be total c**p (Chigago, Million Dollar Baby, and Braveheart). Films that deserved to win it

include Silence Of The Lambs, Gladiator, LOTR 3, Titanic (even thou LA Confidential is great I think Titanic was

such a phenomena that it deserved the prize).

 

Last year Brokeback Mountain was certainly a much better film than Crash and should have won but it was so

obvious already a few weeks before the ceremony (after the no-barriers campaing from Crash-team) that

Hollywood was not going to be liberal enough to award best pic for Brokeback.

 

This year it seemed that there weren't that many good flicks to begin with and that's why a remake won it. I think

that the simple fact is that the voters are very rarely ready to even nominate a foreig language pic for best

picture. Pan's Labyrinth should have been nominated. I think the biggest jokes among the bigger

categories this year were best foreign pic and best supporting actress. Pan should have bagged the other and pretty

much anyone else than Jennifer Hudson the other.

 

Well, for a start "Babel" is not really a 'Foreign Language' film, neither is "Flags of our Fathers", bizarrely not nominated, but I suppose I kind of understand why they went for "...Iwo Jima" instead, it's slightly less politically charged than "Flags...", but is still exceptional film-making in any case... "Little Children" is also a fantastic film, as is "Little Miss Sunshine", "A Scanner Darkly" and "Brick".... And pretty much ALL of these are better films than "The Departed" IMO..

 

"Silence of the Lambs" - Great film, but "JFK" was truly remarkable and should have won it that year...

"Titanic"??? Mate, you gotta be joking.. What just because James Cameron spent a lot of money that is the sole reason that cliched, badly scripted, horrendously inaccurate piece of sh!t should win...? "Lord of the Rings" - a true epic on a vast scale, infinitely more impressive than "Titanic".... And a damn good story too...

I found "Brokeback Mountain" a bit tedious to be honest, personally, I'd've gone for "Syriana", but I suppose waaaaaay too controversial....

"The English Patient", again, over-hyped, over-praised... I dont really go in for this 'Minghella Worship' anyway tbh... The only film of his I reckon I actually enjoyed was "The Talented Mr Ripley" (and I reckon that was probably more down to Matt Damon's outstanding performance in the title role more than anything else tbh)... His most recent film "Breaking and Entering" I found to be smug, middle-class rubbish....

i also agree with titanic. personally i loved it

No, I think Cameron's direction leaves something to be desired as well tbh.... For someone who supposedly spent years researching the subject, to take such incredible liberties with the historical facts and just completely failing to understand the mores surrounding Class and Societal strictures of the period (in 1912, an upper-class woman would NEVER mix with the 'lower classes' travelling in 'Steerage'...) as well as slandering several actual historical figures, it just beggars belief to be honest... One would've thought given the end results, he was just making it up as he went along and to hell with such piddling trifles as 'facts'..... I dont think "Titanic" can be held up in the same light as "Citizen Kane" or even "Heaven's Gate" (which truly is a totally misjudged film when you see it in all its 220-minute glory, as opposed to the hack-job that was done on it for Cinema exhibition....)

 

I liked Titanic although admittedly really only for the gorgeous Kate Winslet lol but you are correct here, Cameron's portrayal in the movie depicting First Officer Murdoch as a cold blooded murderer who then killed himself is the most despicable falsehood I have ever seen in a movie, Murdoch was credited in the enquiry after the sinking to have saved many lives and was one of the true unsung heroes of the whole rescue stuff and he went down with the ship yet Cameron depicted him as a man who shot dead a passenger then turned the gun on himself, a disgusting lie.

Edited March 3, 200718 yr by Vic Vega

Cameron's portrayal in the movie depicting First Officer Murdoch as a cold blooded murderer who then killed himself is the most despicable falsehood I have ever seen in a movie, Murdoch was credited in the enquiry after the sinking to have saved many lives and was one of the true unsung heroes of the whole rescue stuff and he went down with the ship yet Cameron depicted him as a man who shot dead a passenger then turned the gun on himself, a disgusting lie.

 

That's mainly what I was referring to, frankly I'm amazed his descendents didn't take him to court and force him to cut that bit out of the film altogether, I know I would have... I'm not one for censorship, but when such a blatant lie is being propogated about a person then there surely has to be some kind of consequence... Or are Hollywood 'big shots' somehow above all that...? <_<