OSCARS 2013

Nathaniel confirms: "Weaver's nomination makes Silver Linings Playbook the first film since Warren Beatty's classic Reds (1981) to win acting nominations in all categories."

both films noted for their resemblance to "Everybody Loves Raymond"

Bradley Cooper can speak French.

No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

How are these? Worth digging for?

Only seen A Royal Affair, and it's okay but nothing great.

tarantino tantrum just now on Channel 4 news: Perhaps he was pissed he didn't get a nom.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/quentin-tarantino-tells-interviewer-you-cant-make-me-dance-im-not-a-monkey-8446660.html
tbf krishnan was being really arsey.

Bill Hicks • 40 minutes ago

Tarantino has a small penis. He has a chode, which is why he grossly overcompensates with violence and anger. This is why he's lashing out in this interview -- his small chode.

That qt interview reminds me of one Eddie Van Halen did in 1986: when he felt intellectually threatened over some pretty basic shit, he lashed out, and accused the interviewer of trying to make him look or sound stupid.

Oscar nomination snubs include Affleck, Bigelow and 'Skyfall'

LA Times, wtf? ppl expected it to get a Best Picture nomination? Isn't 5 a record for a Bond film?

It got a PGA nom. It has v. good chances with cinematography (shanghai scene) and song.

I didn't know Roger Deakins was 0-for-9 at the Oscars. Still this would be like a "Departed" win for him. Kaminski may be tough to beat if Lincoln is BP.

So far cinematography precursors have been fairly equally shared between Deakins and Life of Pi. Both deserving.

and accused the interviewer of trying to make him look or sound stupid.

"Why would I do that when you already doing such a good job on your own?"

"I’m asking you interesting questions." Straight trollin'.

How are these? Worth digging for?

Haven't seen any, but the trailer for No looks great.

Not sure where to post this, but I would love to see this film:

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/276605-iran-plans-response-to-argo

Here's hoping it's helmed by Asghar Farhadi, so it won't have anything as egregious as plane chase scene.

can only imagine haneke feels a bit bitter, like he's getting a pat on the back for finally playing by old man oscar's rules, grr!

i hope he tears a picture of seth mcfarlane in half after his acceptance speech

The buzz among the snobbiest of my Twitter follows is that No is the class of the lineup.

No Oscar for Deakins? Wow. If he weren't insane/not willing to play ball, I imagine Christopher Doyle would have managed one by now, too.

Saw a local review of "Amour" that described Riva, ironically I thought, as "ageless."

i hope he tears a picture of seth mcfarlane in half after his acceptance speech

fixed.

tarantino tantrum just now on Channel 4 news: Perhaps he was pissed he didn't get a nom.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/quentin-tarantino-tells-interviewer-you-cant-make-me-dance-im-not-a-monkey-8446660.html
tbf krishnan was being really arsey.

― danzig, Thursday, January 10, 2013 2:54 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

almost every interviewer has been asking him that same hacky question for 20 years with no variation or nuance, i get why QT snapped

I have a feeling that if I were a famous director on the interview circuit, I would turn into a big dick after, like, two interviews. It must be numbing, especially when your interviewing is being a smug prat.

There's a famous story in the "Devil's Candy" book where De Palma, having been ground down by relentless inane interviews, suddenly springs to life when asked about his socks.

Deakins was all set to win for Old Country and then he got double nominated that year.

I have a feeling that if I were a famous director on the interview circuit, I would turn into a big dick after, like, two interviews. It must be numbing, especially when your interviewing is being a smug prat.

while i'm sympathetic to QT and the interviewer was definitely a mega-dick, he also seemed a little "on edge" from the get-go

That interview is compelling and not especially fun. Personally, I think Tarantino comes across terribly--he's like when the one Gibb brother would stomp out if an interviewer brought up Saturday Night Fever. So he always gets asked the same questions; someone might be inclined to say he should feel fortunate there are still people who want to interview him based on the lingering greatness of three films from 15-20 years ago.

someone who missed that his recent films are doing even better in the box office

He’s a name brand, now, true enough. I don’t think you have to look very far to find artists whose popularity is inversely proportional to the quality of their art. But I can’t get too far into this argument: I (intentionally) haven’t seen his last two films. (And suspect I’d still find him petulant in the interview even if I were to love them.)

(Actually, Scorsese's adjusted figures aren't as screwy as the unadjusted ones. But you've still got Cape Fear, The Aviator, and Shutter Island ahead of Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, Raging Bull middle of the pack, and The King of Comedy down near the bottom.)

he's definitely petulant in the interview, blowing smoke up his own ass and then getting cranky when he realizes the journalist is trying to corner him. but saying he's coasting on old glories fame-wise would be nothing but pique even if you saw the later stuff (and i prefer the 90s biz myself)

Not coasting, that’s not what I mean. It’s more like...groping; I see a guy who had a window of a few years in the ‘90s when his films were treated as events, and they deserved to be treated that way. He’s now a name brand, and his films are still treated as events by the machinery of the industry. But for a number of critics and former fans (like me), they shouldn’t be, not anymore. My guess is--maybe I’m totally wrong--he feels that disconnect, and when he finds himself subjected to that kind of interview at this particular moment, he gets defensive. I bet he wouldn’t have reacted that way if you plunked him into the same interview circa Jackie Brown; I bet he would have taken it in stride and had some fun.

this is a pretty impressive observation to make about critical & commercial hits you haven't seen

I bet he wouldn’t have reacted that way if you plunked him into the same interview circa Jackie Brown; I bet he would have taken it in stride and had some fun.

― clemenza, Friday, January 11, 2013 12:16 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGQaJcwAtpU

"no i did not see the emperor's new clothes but...maybe i'm totally wrong...but i think he knows he's really naked"

i'm under the impression yelling at people he doesn't respect is tarantino's idea of having fun

he seems friendly 2 me

She does seem appreciably more hostile than the British interviewer, who seemed to me to like Django, but point taken.

I just haven't been able to bring myself to see the last two. I see the commercials, think about how disappointing the Kill Bills were after Jackie Brown, and I stay clear. (From the reviews I've read, I'd quibble with "critical hits"--not in the sense that Pulp Fiction was, anyway.)

dude, bro, watch inglourious basterds. just check it out.

both inglorious and django are getting raves, though you've probably forgotten the occasional slams and dismissals pulp got, too. and it's kind of silly when he's complaining that he's been answering a question for 20 years to say that he'd take it in stride if you brought it up 15 years ago.

I don't know--maybe in the wake of something like Newtown, any kind of questions that broach the subject of cause-and-effect push a button with him. Maybe that's behind his defensiveness. I just found it quite excessive for such relatively mild questions.

It's on the shelf, has been for a while. It keeps Shutter Island company.

i bet you'll like it dude!

i think he's always felt slightly attacked by these questions, and probably is even more defensive because of newtown yeah

it's also possible he was jacked up

re: the quibble, if rotten tomatoes is some kind of barometer - pulp and reservoir have ratings around 95% (and that includes reviews of 20th anniversary DVDs and whatnot), django and inglorious around 89%

though if we're going to imagine that tarantino slaps paparazzi because he knows his career has been a lie for a decade, i guess we can fantasize that these critics are afraid of fanboy assaults

I'm sure in the aggregate, the reviews are good. But it's easy to find much more ambivalent reviews--I just read David Thomson's a day or two ago.

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/111648/django-unchained-all-talk-nothing-say

I'm suggesting uncertainty, not a lie. For a 50-year-old filmmaker to be less sure himself than he was at 30 would hardly seem unusual.

fine, it's possible tarantino's acting like his usual manic self because he's increasingly insecure, and it's possible that these movies you haven't seen are only popular because of his brand and machine.

All right, Ramblers--let's get ramblin'.

lol guess what other movie the new republic was ambivalent about: http://www.tnr.com/article/film/shooting#

Meanwhile, however, what's most bothersome about Pulp Fiction is its success. This is not to be mean-spirited about Tarantino himself; may he harvest all the available millions. But the way that this picture has been so widely ravened up and drooled over verges on the disgusting. Pulp Fiction nourishes, abets, cultural slumming.

So much of what inundates us these days--in film, in various kinds of pop music--is calculated grunginess, of climate and temper. So much of what goes on in (what I hear of) rock music revels in the lower end of every kind of spectrum, grungy ideas and diction delivered by grungy people. So much of modern film seems to compete in grunginess. Very little of this stuff seems to have anything to do with the lives actually lived by its avid public. Most of it seems designed as guided tours of an underworld for people otherwise placed--career-oriented students, job-holding others. Escapism always has been one function of theater and film, and for ages it was cloyingly pretty-pretty. Boy, has the pendulum swung.

kill bill flix are imo good but def his weakest. inglourious basterds is arguably his best.