Oscar Frenzy (Take 1)

[dukewhite]

So with the Oscars just a week away, I started my annual Oscar movie-watching extravaganza.

On Wednesday I went to see Good Night, and Good Luck which left me underwhelmed. It was a bit too heavy-handed and overt in its message for me, and I felt that none of the performances or technical elements were extremely noteworthy. I felt very little

Comments

[esstmehrobst]

I dunno, somehow there is nothing which gets me interested in nominated movies anymore. There is some boringness around it. Maybe it is because the movies are nominated for their context rather than for their content. Read a book about the nominated movies since they started and you have some sort of diagram of what was on the nation's mind each time. But maybe it is just because the oscar is no international award, which did not matter for the last period of hollywood dominated movie making, but now as there are enough foreign movies which apart from the effects and celebrities can perfectly match the production quality becomes too obvious to get me interested.

I was interested into Memoirs of a Geisha until finding out it would be by Spielberg. And since there were no alien kidnappings perhaps a director with a different set of qualities would have been better. Still I'm looking forward to your review.

[dukewhite]

Rob Marshall directed Memoirs of a Geisha. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It was such an interesting view into a hidden world one only gets hints at through modern skewed perceptions of the Geisha culture. It was easily the most gorgeous of the films nominated, and steels Beebe's place in my book of favorite cinematographers, reminding me over and over again of the style of Robert Richardson. Maybe not worth seeing in the theaters, but worth a viewing.

[esstmehrobst]

Oh, right. He was just producing it. However - I read the book and after seeing what Spielberg made of the Holocaust, a topic he had a rather close connection to, I was very worried what he will make with a topic he had nothing to do with. However - it can't be as bad as I expected, since you enjoyed it, so perhaps I'll give it a try as soon as the DVD is out.

[onlyifyousnoop]

What are you doing for said-Oscars? I'm have a few people over for dinner and Oscars, and would love if Alison and you could make it.

[dukewhite]

I don't know if Alison can make it, but I would love to attend. I'll let you know if she'll be there too. Will there be a prize for whomever has seen the most of the nominees?