The Oscars (I Tell You What to Think)

I lost all respect for Reese when she babbled something about wanting to “matter.” Honey, you don’t. Not yet, anyway.

OK, I thought they’d brought Debbie Allen back to choreograph those HORRIBLE dances for “Pimp” and “Crash.”

What happened to AlGore starring in “Desert Rat”?
Ann, Reese does “matter”…just not as much as Salma.

Ha ha, boys, I’ve seen Salma in person. And I have to say that if I were going to bat for the other team, she’d be my type. Hmmm, maybe a “Lesbian Cowgirls” movie for Oscar 2007 . . . ?

One of the great movie moments is in “Y Tu Mama Tambien” when Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna are hanging out at a pool and they jerk off screaming “Salma!” When characters in movies you’re not even in are wanking off to you, you must be special.

This was the first year I actually SAW many of the nominated movies, and I think the awards were well dispersed among them. Each received the award I thought each deserved (except for Goodnight and Good Luck, which kinda got edged out). I think “Crash” won not because it was the safer choice, but because it is an actor’s movie, with stunning performances. Yes, it was somewhat manipulative, but then so was “Brokeback Mountain” and at least the last half of “Crash” didn’t draaaaaaagggggggg.

This was a damn good year for movies, despite the box office drop. (Hint to Hollywood: We’ll all go back to seeing these films in a dark theater when it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to do so). Dustin Hoffman was absolutely right when he saluted all the people sitting in front of him who didn’t win with “Good work, all you you. Good work.”

Does anybody know if the film clip homage to gay cowboys is available anywhere on the web? I was laughing so hard I missed half of it…

Thanks!

Well said Ice, although you forgot to mention sitting through the commercials after paying $8+ for the privlege.

It is great to watch a movie in a nice, clean theater with good projection, good sound, a big screen, and a polite, enthusiastic audience. It is also quite pleasant to fly to the moon on gossamer wings, and somewhat more likely.

The Crystal Theater in Carbondale, CO used to be perfect. I hope it still is - I haven’t been there in about 10 years, but the town prized it highly.

Just in case anyone is out that way.
Julia

Oh, dear cold Weasel,

I cannot agree!

First off, why eat in the movie theater at all, eh? Why can’t you wait until after you see the picture? Chomping while viewing is a result of TV. Audiences didn’t used to do such self-stuffing in the old days. The food stopped at Ju-Jubes and candy bars. Popcorn, sure. But not mega buckets. And no nachos, etc.

And noisy audiences can be stilled by vigilant ushers.

But yes, I agree, screen ads in theaters before the film are horrible. Even the old lava lamps were better.

So, the problem is the greed of theater owners. And the gluttony of some audiences. Because there is nothing - NOTHING like sitting in a dark theater - away from phones and doorbells, dogs, cats and friends, and watching, letting the movie swallow you whole. Reacting with an audience is lovely too. A shared experience is somehow more real.

Have you tried a stadium seating theater?
Bliss.

The home screen, however inflated and convenient, can’t touch the real movie experience.

Don’t stop going to the movies. Just campaign to keep the experience pure.

Just MHO.

I only watched through Mr. Clooney’s acceptance speech and *loved* it. Jon Stewart was great. Unfortunately, it looked like the only one who got his jokes was Jack Nicholson. Now *that’s* a scary thought.

P.S. SeattleDan—I know I’ve asked you before, but what’s the name of your store? Are you there on weekends?

I think Jack is, and always has been, one of the most irreverent actors in Hollywood. That’s why he wasn’t too afraid, or too offended, to laugh at Jon Stewart’s jokes.

If you have a problem with concession prices, then smuggle in your own snacks. You’ll wind up with a much better selection anyway. I can’t stand the candy sold at most movie theaters.

My trick for avoiding annoying audiences is to go to the movies really early or really late. Most theaters, except in New York, still have matinee discounts. Movie prices really aren’t that out of line. When I was a kid, about fifteen years ago, movie tickets cost at least six bucks. At nine dollars, ticket prices have pretty much kept up with inflation.

Mother Felber, I have to take issue with you and here’s why. I admit it, I love “home theater”. Yes, I’ll gladly trade in the big screen (well, bigger than mine but not as big as should be too often) and “audience experience” for the privilege of sitting in my home, on my furniture, with my wife, the dogs, whatever amount of popcorn and beverages I wish, and to sit there undisturbed by other humans. Maybe I am a recluse. Could be. But the point is, and I think it’s undeniable that many people agree with me, better to invest the money in your home than spend it at the theater. And that group gets larger every day.

I’ll go you one further. With the advent of home theater, I see smaller groups of people getting together to watch movies. Groups of six or eight gathering at one home theater for that “audience experience”. I daresay that even the most conspicuously consumptive home theater owners don’t have screens as large any public theater, but again, it’s the quality of the experience, not just the overall bombast of it.

Don’t get me wrong, socialogically, there are some dreadful things about home theater (or more to the point, the death of public theater) but that doesn’t make the experience of the public theater any more pleasurable. At least for me.

fouler, you know, you’re right. But my wife and I live simply by most people’s standards. If I’m going to blow $20 on something, it won’t be hoping that everyone in the theater bathed that day, forgot their children and thei cell phones, and would just, for the love of satan, shut up.

But hey, maybe it’s just me.

We don’t have a lot of options in Winston-Salem. Three or four megaplexes with all the aforementioned disadvantages. We don’t even have a great selection of movies to see — “Good Night and Good Luck” played for one weekend. But the local Cinema Society sells out its screenings, and in a couple weeks we’re hosting this, and I’ve already got my book of tickets.

It was a great success last year, so I don’t understand why I have to drive to Greensboro if I want to see anything good.

And I don’t need anything more than a small box of Junior Mints to complete my cinema experience.

Try weekday matinees, the prices are lower, and the theater is generally about a quarter-full of retirees who 1)don’t talk during the movie, 2) don’t eat during the movie, and 3)don’t have cell phones that might ring during the movie. This is the environment in which I saw Brokeback Mountain, and also, oddly, 8 Mile, among others. Highly recommended.

I also love renovated theaters that show old movies that I otherwise wouldn’t get to see on a big screen. I just saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s in one, and it was a completely different experience than on my TV. Amen, Old Mother Felber.

Stephen,
Just who do you think makes up the population of Sugar Land TX? (Think East Tree Stump)(Think South BF).

Two sides.

There is something to be said about watching a movie in your underwear, with one bottle of rotgut after another, being able to pause the flick when you have to go to the bathroom, rewind it in order to make sense of the scenes you were too wasted to catch the first several times, and not have to weave home in the cold.

On the other hand, a live audience who help you laugh (natural laugh track), who jump with you at the shocking parts, and who cheer at the good spots, along with a huge screen and loud audio really do make some movies much better. Some films just need to be seen in a theater. When I watch others on HBO I often say “I’m glad I didn’t pay money to see that”.

My worst movie experience was at the age of 4 or 5 when my brother took me to the local theater in Ottawa to watch a film on aquanauts but the one before it was the original (1957) The Fly. I was catatonic for days. My mother, wondering why I was staring wide eyes for hours and wouldn’t go into the basement where my room was, finally pried it out of me. 50 years later I can still see the fly caught in the web with the man’s head. (You wondered what trauma lead to a life spent on someone’s blog?)

5 years ago my brother and I went for a weekend to Ottawa and sure enough the theatre was still there and we watched what ever was playing, it would have been perfect had it been The Fly.

One of the best movie experiences I’ve had was when Star Wars 1 came out. A friend rented the upstairs of (I think) the Senator Theater in Balmer. We had a party there with wine, cheese, fruit and pastries, and watched the movie from the enclosed balcony, where we could enjoy it as a group. Jar Jar Binks was annoying, but the experience was great.

(That was supposed to start “I like the theater experience…”)

I want to not go to the movies with Siobhan.

I couldn’t take it for more than 15 minutes. It was painful. It just didn’t seem like Jon Stewart’s type of humor translated well to the Oscars. Sad.

Also pissed, because I had the idea to make a movie about gay cowboys for as long as… well, for as long as I knew what gay is, and what a cowboy is. I should’ve totally capitalized on that, but didn’t.

Hey Adam,
Thanks for the link to the Arclight. Six years living here and I haven’t been yet. Now I’m inspired. And, hey, coming soon…Salma Hayek!

When I saw Crash, I didn’t think of it as a movie about racism. I saw it as a movie that used racism as a vehicle to talk about people and to make an entertaining movie. I really liked it. These were my thoughts right after I saw it.

I have read a lot of comments from people (rather young people, I assume) who talked about the movie being “a real eye-opener.” If they actually learned something from it, that’s good. Maybe it’s the kind of film that’s “great for the kids, but adults will enjoy it, too.”

King Kong was an awesome film. If your love is for High Fantasy, Jungle folklore, sociocultural commentary, tart satirical thrust, or a tragic romance of lost souls, Peter Jacksons KING KONG is a whopper of a great tale. A telling narrative of desperate lives caught up in the desperate times of The Great Depression, this KING KONG showcases what desperation will drive one to do, and the price to be paid for such ventures. Those who thrilled to what Jackson, his co-writers, and his SFX team at WETA achieved in bring THE LORD OF THE RINGS to cinematic life will not be let down here. Those who swear by that classic RKO original starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong will have much reason to cheer. The basic innocence of that original has been enhanced by Jackson astutely depicting the corruptive period from which it sprang. The Depression -a cheery Al Jolson at the start of the film notwithstanding- was anything but a good time. Special notice must be paid to Jack Black (whose Carl Denham is less the film warrior of Robert Armstrong , and more the okeydoke peddler), Evan Parke (whose Hayes is a wary figure of tragic wisdom), Adrien Brody (whose Jack Driscoll is a brilliant commentary on the struggle of creative artists amidst commercial booshwah) and Naomi Watts (whose Ann Darrow does the renowned ingénue played by Fay Wray proud, while adding layers of wit and depth all her own) Too, Andy Serkis (who stunned us as Gollum in the RING trilogy) delivers a Chaplin-worthy tour de force of thespian body language as the Great Ape. Between the insightful pantomime of Serkis, and the equally inspired Broadway trouping of Watts, the story is centered not on lust misplaced, but haunted travelers striking a deep, ill-fated bond. Get the 2 disc special edition if you want a deeper look into the art of filmmaking. Whatever you choose, pick up this film, and enjoy its absorbing, enchanted tale.