Any of you (2) have thoughts on the Oscar nominations/awards?
I'm standing by Munich for best picture. I think this film is good $hit and should win. I think a lot of people were pissed off about the timing of its release though. This confuses me and makes me raise the question: when would have been a good time?
The media seems to be focused on Brokeback Mountain. I haven't seen the movie, but I hope that if it does win, that it wins because it's worthy and not because everyone in Hollywood is gay.
Other potential best pictures: Capote, Good Night and Good Luck (PG movies never win oscars), Cinderella Man, Walk the Line, and Crash.
Best Actor: Scotty-why'd-you-do-that?/Dirk-do-you-like-my-car? looks like a good bet in Capote. Eric Banna in Munich, Joaquin Phoenix
Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon (never thought I'd be placing her in this category)
I don't really have any interest in seeing Broke Back (no offense JJ). It's just a waste of good men. It's like there's plenty of fish in the sea except now 10% are now flaming. kidding! as they are always fun to hang out with and can be catty with the best of them.
okay, I saw Munich and Sierana (sp?) back-to-back in the theater today and hands-down the latter wins! Munich bothered me because of its predictability (meaning that the film is set up by a linear set of events...kill x amount of people...they dragged that so there was little suspense). spielberg trys to vary it by the different settings and the various ways to kill someone (also the french characters Louis and Papa added some dimentionality) but I left early to catch Sierana because I just couldn't see it ending in a bang-up suspense. Not all movies are created for that reason and it does bring up the complexity of revenge, groups that make money simply off of playing various groups off each other for bloodshed and how it never really ends. History repeats itself and we are all replaceable. What was the ending? I got to the part where they are sitting on the bench with the dead accomplice.
Okay, now Sierana was a far superior movie. I've heard reviews where people think the plot is confusing...but if you have a brain that constantly jumps tracks then it makes perfect sense. I thouight it was a lot like Traffic and should win the Oscar for its timeliness of world events, how everyone has something at stake (the lawyer, oil man of the year, the two princes, the suicide bomber--finding faith in a lost cause, Jamie/Moussabi, "bob" and wanting to know why he is asked to do something, etc.), and little things like governments can be bought, bribed, or killed. Also, the ideology of the suicide bomber camp was brought in a soft way (meaning not shoving the point down our throats) to how people can get in the mode to die for a cause.
I do like Walk the Line, however, for the believable character development so it's up there, too.
You nailed most of the movie from what you saw. The last scene takes place in NYC and it ends panning to the Twin Towers. I don't know, for me it just seemed to kind of tie together how the U.S. is now involved in this bull$hit (or since the 80's I guess) and that it's just never going to end, so why the f*ck are we still fighting. It was kind of predictable, but it made me switch from Israel to the U.S. and it sort of sank in.
I interpreted the movie as a lot of things, but i thought the anit-war message was pretty strong. And that when we fight the terrorists we become the terrorists in a way.
It is interesting how people interpret and react to the same thing in different ways. I was completey engaged for all of Munich. Syriana, although a really good movie and definitely a thinker, felt like pulling teeth at times.
Syriana was like reading a really good textbook (interesting and compelling, but too much after a while).
Munich had more of a story which you could escape to.
I've been doing some reading this morning and have come across way too many articles written by authors who were offended by Munich.
With that said, my guess is that even if the film should win, it probably will not because of the international rage towards this movie. If the film were to win, there would probably be a huge deal made out of it and would cause more conflict in the world.
Looks like the academy recognized the film as Oscar-worthy and gave it the respect of the nomination, but, I now would be surprised if it took home the trophy.
Probably going to see Brokeback Mountain at some point. Does this movie really live up to all of the hype?
That would be too bad if the academy did not choose Munich based on a fear of international repurcussions (sp?). You're right about the escape factor. It was very believable and set with the right period feeling. I guess I was sidetracked because I wanted to sneak into Syriana so I didn't give it my full attention.
It is a very unique story and gives a voice to the saga of terror.
