I am in love with “La Vie en Rose”, there are a few categories they deserve an Oscar.
I definitely think “There Will Be Blood” should win. The others are all great movies, a surprise for the Academy this year, but “There Will Be Blood” stands out as much smarter, stronger, and better.
I have the sneaking suspicion that while it SHOULD win, THERE WILL BE BLOOD will be upset by something as oscar-baity as ATONEMENT. And no nomination for Jonny Greenwood’s score? A travesty!
It is such a shame that the nominee of “Lust, Caution”, my best film of the year 2008 (yes, it is just the beginning but I decided already) as a best foreign language film due to the nationality of the crew! I was very impressed with There Will Be Blood but personally I would vote for Atonement based on the novel written by Ian McEwan, who I believe is the best contemporary writer in UK.
Rica, I compleletely agree with you that it was a such outrageous shame that “Lust, Caution” wasn’t nominated in various categories! As a side note, the films that were nominated for Best Foreign Film were films that no one heard of, it was like a very bad joke. We had a year of amazing foreign films such as Cannes’ Palm D’or winner “4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 Days,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s extraordinary ‘Climates," Fatih Akin’s Award winning “Edge of Heaven,” probably the most unique take on a musical “Once,” and no one of these movies were nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar ?? This makes you wonder what is/are their criteria about the films…If they have any…
I also agree with you that Ian McEwan is a fantastic(!!) writer, probably the best British Writer today. And, they did an incredible job adapting a very challenging novel. I am crossing my fingers for “Atonement” to get the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar…
I think I missed writing “was canceled” in my comments. Yes, Halim, “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” is an excellent film and it was my best film in 2007. I have been carried away from the very beginning to the very end of it. I don’t believe in Oscar. It is a show biz and they pick up emerging stars of the year in turn to make them shine. On the contrary, you find humanistic decisions at film festivals like Cannes, Berlin and Venice. I would go for them.
Hey Rica, I agree with you that most definitely festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Venice care a lot more about political and human issues than the Oscars, which mostly seems to care about forcing their own political agenda into the minds of people. Otherwise, how could you explain the fact a movie like “Juno” which is extra-sweet, politically-correct and very moralistically anti-abortion is nominated for an Oscar, in various ‘surprising’ categories, while a movie like “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” which deals with the exact same issues in a very realistic and grim way was not even nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, even though it was THE most talked about Foreign Film of the year!
Does Oscars matter?
Depends on who we are talking about? Really they just support the very people who put them on. When was the last time an Oscar was awarded to a film that not only deserved it but then the award raised the film’s profile? This is how it should be with the foreign award, but these days people haven’t heard of those movies, me included.
That’s sad as Oscar is nowadays treated like the best film awards in the world.
Oscars are nominated and awarded by AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) members.
Dropping “4 Months…” from Best Foreign Film reflects Americans really don’t care about Romanian issues.
However, I was touched by the speech given by Forest Whitaker who won the best actor last year.
I thought he deserved it.
How can No Country for Old Men win the best film?
Have many senior Academy members voted just looking at the title?
The Best Foreign Film went to “Counterfeiters” of course,
the true story of counterfeiting operation by Nazis.
The Academy is inseparable from Jewish industry.
My friend is celebrating the best documentary film for “Taxi to the Dark Side,”
which her company commissioned as part of the series of “Why Democracy?”.
Meanwhile, I am meeting a cinematographer this week
who DOPed “Peter and Wolf,” winner of the best animation film.
Day-Lewis’s remark, “the closest I’ll ever come to getting a knighthood” was hilarious.
I love English sense of humor…
Oscars are complete bs.
The people I want to see win, never do.
I’m just so pissed that they didn’t recognize paul thomas anderson, for creating such a precise piece of filmmaking.
I completely with Juan, I think it was very sad and unfair that they haven’t given much spotlight to a masterpiece film like “There Will be Blood.” I mean I think “No Country Country for Old Men” was a great film as film, though however I thought “There Will be Blood” was better directed for sure…
Hey better NO COUNTRY than indie trite like JUNO or Oscar-bait like ATONEMENT. Props to John Stewart for letting the ONCE girl come back and give her speech!
Sure.
“There Will Be Blood” could not win the Best Film
because of the way it portrayed the priest, I think.
I found No Country was too depressing and hopeless
in terms of humanistic perspective.
Americans love Cohen Brothers after all…
Out of the nominees, I’ve only seen TWBB and NCFOM, and I personally beleive No Country to be the better film. I mean, TWBB is stunning in its technical aspects and has incredible visuals and score, but…..it’s shallow as fuck. Especially coming from Anderson, who made Magnolia.
That’s a very interesting comment.
Most of the people who didn’t like TWBB didin’t understand
the character Day Lewis performed.
I don’t understand him either, very complex.
That film was also about sin, who is the sinner,
who is eligible to judge others’ acts, that sort of issue.
However, regarding this film,
the praise didn’t go so much to Anderson as to Day Lewis of course.
The people who supported TWBB didn’t think
the script of NCFOM was good enough.
Woah, leveling “shallow” at TWBB against NCFOM? Ambitious to say the least! Couldn’t you just swap acronyms and make the same complaint you made about the Coens’ film Daniel?
Woah, leveling “shallow” at TWBB against NCFOM? Ambitious to say the least! Couldn’t you just swap acronyms and make the same complaint you made about the Coens’ film Daniel?
There Will Be Blood is the furthest thing from Shallow.
I love Paul Thomas Anderson and was hoping There Will Be Blood would win. It’s one of my favorite movies.
After some time thinking about it, though, I feel like even though I liked TWBB more, that No Country resonated with audiences on a more common level. It did represents certain themes that are of common interest in a cool way, and the film was well-shot and well-acted. TWBB is amazingly orchestrated, but a lot of people were put off by the ending. It is an undeniably strange film, and strange films that don’t really take on any kind of acknowledgment of the audience usually don’t win awards.
It’s interesting to look at these things in hindsight. Though they are both excellent films, I’ve always felt No Country was by far the superior film. On a technical level, that argument shouldn’t even be a question, though I will say Daniel Plainsview was the strongest character of the lot. But considering how unanimous it was between film buffs and critics how great this film was, it really isn’t too surprising.
And I remember watching Paul Thomas Anderson’s face when they were announcing best director and best picture and how surprised I was by his reaction. He seemed a little angry, like he almost felt it was an obvious snub because the hype that There Will Be Blood was riding at the time was stronger.
My vote was for Blood… it demanded more respect. (Visuals, sounds, man’s corruption, and the downside to Capitalism.)
And I agree with Juan CP, “oscars are complete bs.” Citizen Kane was nominated for nine oscars and it only won one. (writing because it didn’t go to Welles) The truth was most people thought Welles was too arrogant and Kane not winning was a way to get at him.
Blood will be remembered in the long run.
Halim Cillov
I have seen all the films that are nominated for Oscar in the Best Picture category this year, and I must say ‘There Will Be Blood’ is the one that was the strongest one among them, and I have a hunch that this year to Oscar will go to this movie. I mean ‘No Country Old Men’ was fantastic and it took my breath-away. ‘Atonement’ and ‘Michael Clayton’ were both extremely well-made movies, and ‘Juno,’ which was somewhat a surprising contender was surprisingly unique, imaginative and hearth-warming. Yet, I thought ‘There Will Be Blood’ was definitely an instant classic which wont be forgotten for a long time. If it doesn’t get the Best Picture Oscar, I am sure Paul Thomas Anderson will get the Directing Oscar.
I wonder what other people think? And what is their favorite among the films that are running for Oscar this year?