The Oscar Nominees are...

[Arles]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Share your site. Since rottentomatoes averages hundreds of critical reviews, I'd love to find an even better source for reviews.

I like rottentomatoes as well, but I don't see the ratings being all that fair for a film like "Passion". Almost all the negative feedback came from newspaper reviewers, which isn't all that surprising when you consider the political leanings of that group as a whole. The New York Times was slamming the movie before even the media screening. It's a bit like going to the republican convention for opinions on John Kerry and coming back by saying all of America hates him.

I don't think that the Passion was the best movie last year, but I think it's a heck of a lot better than the embittered print media made it seem (many who came out against it before they even saw it).

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Arles

I like rottentomatoes as well, but I don't see the ratings being all that fair for a film like "Passion". Almost all the negative feedback came from newspaper reviewers, which isn't all that surprising when you consider the political leanings of that group as a whole. The New York Times was slamming the movie before even the media screening. It's a bit like going to the republican convention for opinions on John Kerry and coming back by saying all of America hates him.

I don't think that the Passion was the best movie last year, but I think it's a heck of a lot better than the embittered print media made it seem (many who came out against it before they even saw it).

You can sort the reviews in any way you'd like, pulling just the reviews from newspaper, radio, tv, web, etc.

Across the board Passion grades are significantly lower than any other 'good movie' i could think of from 2004.

[Pyser]

you cant stop jesus, you can only hope to contain him.

[Sharpieman]

Originally Posted by Pyser

you cant stop jesus, you can only hope to contain him.

Lol, I want that for a bumpersticker


If Foxx nor Cheadle win, its going to piss me off. Cheadle was the best by far, but Foxx did damn good job too. I'm rooting for Cheadle, but Foxx is more likely to win because a lot more people have seen Ray.

[Axxon]

What I'm surprised about is that the Oscars still gather this much attention. I don't know, but it's been a really long time since I've cared who wins or is nominated but I still enjoy movies just as much, if not more. I guess I just don't get into popularity contests that I don't have a vote in and that's all the Academy Awards are. I think the show is fun to watch though.

I believe the final nail in their coffin for me was The English Patient. I just never got that one. I'm not alone. I was on a ferry boat heading from Amsterdam to London and they were showing this movie. Since it had just recently won I paid to see it. Halfway through the movie, the film broke and we started talking. It took 20 minutes before someone suggested that we might want to tell them it broke so we could see the rest of it.

At that point I realized the huge disconnect between my likes and the academy's likes so I figure, as long as we're that far off, what's the point in being interested in their views? I will thank them for movies that I likely would NOT have seen had they not nominated them.

Amadeus is one of my all time favorite movies and I would never have seen it if it hadn't won best picture. Ditto Gandhi and a few others but I've also wasted my time watching things like The English Patient, Terms of Endearment and Gladiator, none of which I liked. I guess I just consider the awards a glorified movie review which has more hits than misses but not that big a deal.

Chinaski, I do wonder about Control Room. I found it less entertaining than F911 ( but more of a documentary ) but worlds better than Super Size Me. It deserves a spot if Super Size Me got one.

Again though, since the best documentary I've ever seen, Crumb, didn't even get nominated in it's year, I have to go back to what I said. My likes are so far from the Academy's that I can't really get worked up about their popularity contest.

[WrongWay]

I Loved the Oscars last year. Thank you New Zealand. I also really liked that the fact that the only Oscar that LOTR did not win was the one they on purposly tried to win by spending millions over to get it real. The lighting of the fire scene was actually filmed with a camera, but everyone though it was done with a computer like most of the film so the Academy did not vote for it.


BTW---As a Catholic I loved The Passion, but as a movie fan it was basically just an average film. Maybe even below average.

[WrongWay]

I have 2 questions for people with the Complete lists.

1) How many nominations(technical) did Sky Captain receive?

2) And for my Worst movie of 2004.....How many total nominaions did Alexander receive?

Sky Captain was hyped as the next generation of special effects, and I am just plain hoping that Alexander will teach some of these Hollywood types to keep their audience in mind when making their movies.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Arles

I don't think that the Passion was the best movie last year, but I think it's a heck of a lot better than the embittered print media made it seem (many who came out against it before they even saw it).

Agreed.

The truth is that this movie brings up strong feelings on both sides, some talking it up greater than they otherwise would because of its subject matter while others downplay its quality because of that. That's why I think it's hard to represent a film's quality based solely upon a collection of film reviews.

I don't think it deserved a Best Picture nomination, although I haven't seen any of the ones that did, but as for its production elements, I think it's a better than average film that could be judged as outstanding by some who were particularly touched by it.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie, and really like it, after initially being a bit worried about hearing they were making it (i as a big fan of Before Sunrise).

Exactly what I thought. I didn't want the sequel to spoil the perfect ending of the first one. Now I think Before Sunset might even be better. Even with that asshat Ethan Hawke has become in it...

[Suicane75]

Saw Hotel Rwanda over the weekend. Great movie, really close but I think it's slightly better than The Woodsmen. I would really dig it if it wiped out MDB and TA at the Oscars but I know that won't happen. Still think Bacon was the Actor ive seen in a movie though.



Heres an interesting article on MDB by Roger Ebert. I didn't realize that right wing journalists were doing this and it would piss the holy hell out of me if it had ruined the movie for me.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...SAYS/501290301

[QuikSand]

Saw Million Dollar Baby this weekend. I'm still not sure what I think, in total. It was good, certainly exceeding my expectations (I haven't really liked his films too much, notably Mystic River). I think the movie was largely carried by Hillary Swank, whose performance was superb, but Eastwood managed to keep from sinking the movie too deep, to his modest credit. (I'm not wild about his use of plot devices, as I feel I can still "see the strings" with everything a bit too much)

Good movie. Great performance by Swank. Eastwood as Best Actor is a laugh, especialy over Paul Giamatti, but he was fine.

Have to stew on it some more, but a solid "B" for an Eastwood-directed movie is better than he usually rates from me.

[Suicane75]

I saw Sideways as well and I while I thought it was a good picture, I have no idea where all the hype is coming from. It wasn't very funny, and the characters were just a little off to me. I actually think this was the first Giamatti performance I wasn't really into.