The 85th Academy Awards.

FieldsMan wrote:

Control wrote:

I think SKYFALL's cinematography nod was a big feat.

Deakins won't win, but deserves to.

Yeah, I think so too. Life of Pi will probably get it (haven't seen it, purely because the film looks so fake), but if Deakins doesn't win, I want McGarvey's work on Anna Karenina to win. Haven't seen the film, but his work has always been stunning and going by the trailer, it looks like a visual treat.

As for LIFE OF PI looking fake, well, it's a fantasy with a lot of special effects, just like AVATAR (although PI is far better looking, with far better 3D, and a far better film), so fakery kinda goes with the territory.

I'd urge anyone who hasn't seen PI to ignore the trailers and the clips on TV, to put aside any prejudices about CGI and 3D, and to do as I did, namely see the film on the biggest screen possible at the best venue possible, and in 3D. I don't think I've ever been so blown away by the cinematography and visuals of any film - certainly not during my filmgoing of the past few years. I'm normally indifferent to 3D, finding it either annoying and/or headache-inducing (AVATAR) or, at best, interesting-but-hardly-earthshattering (PROMETHEUS), but in PI it really works, to the point where it seems a crucial aspect of the film's storytelling as opposed to a gimmick.

My random thoughts...

Of all the best picture nominees that I've seen, I like ZERO DARK THIRTY the best. I doubt that it will get the win, though, considering THE HURT LOCKER had already won previously and the Academy may see it as being too similar.

I'm glad SKYFALL got some love from the academy, especially in the cinematography department. Both it and LINCOLN are very deserving noms.

I like DDL for best actor, Chastain for best actress, Les Mis for sound mixing and Adele for original song.

I've got to admit that all the critical acclaim in ARGO has peaked my interest, so I'm hoping to see it this weekend before it leaves theaters. I'm still a little lukewarm on THE MASTER after hearing conflicting things about it, and I don't really have any interest in LIFE OF PI, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, and BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.

For what it's worth, my favorite films of the year were: ZERO DARK THIRTY, SKYFALL, THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT, TDKR, DJANGO UNCHAINED, CHRONICLE, CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER, and LES MIS.

Harmsway wrote:

LIFE OF PI won't win Best Picture. It hasn't fared well in terms of awards season buzz, and hasn't garnered the awards that usually prefigure the Best Picture win. Right now, it looks like Best Picture is up for grabs between LES MISERABLES, LINCOLN, and ZERO DARK THIRTY.

Yes, I think you're right. LINCOLN seems to be the favourite.

I'm surprised that LIFE OF PI doesn't appear to have done particularly well at the box office Stateside. It's a big success in other parts of the world (I've now seen it twice in different cinemas here in Britain, and the house was packed out on both occasions), but American audiences seem relatively unenthused by it (from what I gather, though, American critics love the film, on the whole).

Life of Pi is a movie I will never watch.

Why?

Because the featurette trailer turned me off to it!

How?

I went to see Prometheus on June 18 at the IMAX.

As usual we had the trailers and the concession promotion and the turn off your cell phone and please stop talking message.

Then we had the 3D projection trailer and the IMAX sound system trailer.

This is where the movie starts - at least with every IMAX movie I'd ever seen.

But nooooo, not this time.

Next thing they showed is this kid on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger.

There was no studio card and no green MPAA trailer card in front of it.

I thought it was another sound system trailer so it should be over in 1 minute but it wasn't.

It went on forever and ever; fishes flying at the boat, the tiger trying to catch the fishes, boat rolling around in the ocean waves (hurry up and capsize so we can't get this over already), etc etc

Then after all that, we are told it's Life of Pi.

What is Life of Pi?

I never heard anything about it until that moment.

I frequent movie websites several times a day every day.

I am up to date on everything that's in production, pre-production, this week's release, next week's release, releases scheduled for months down the line, direct to video release but I never heard of Life of Pi.

Not one ioda of it.

I understand FOX wants to promote the movie and I can appreciate their efforts to do so;

I know a movie costs millions to produce nowadays and the thin line between box office flop and success is very slim.

But FOX execution was all wrong.

Put in in front of Prometheus with no advance warning.

At least we are told in advance when the Dark Knight Rising exclusive trailer will play in the IMAX theater and which movie it will be attached to.

Not one word from FOX.

I wouldn't be (and I am sure I wasn't the only one in the audience thinking the same thing) so upset about it if they put it in front of Prometheus but before the 3D projection trailer and the IMAX sound system trailer instead.

Everyone was settled in their seats, thinking "This is it! Prometheus is going to start now" and instead we get Life of Pi.

Furthermore, again at the time, I am sure I wasn't the only one to also think "Are we in the correct auditorium? Is this the Prometheus showing? It has to be. There are 24 screens here and this is the ONLY IMAX auditorium!"

FOX SUCKS!

I still haven't forgotten them for cancelling some of the BEST TV series ever, at least a couple dozen of them in the past 20 years, without giving them a chance to become successful;

many of them were cancelled after only one season or less.

Thanks

for

the

tip

bro

LIFE OF PI is an infinitely better film than PROMETHEUS. It also wipes the floor with PROMETHEUS in the 3D department.

That's not that hard. PROMETHEUS was the most unpleasant experience I've ever had at the cinema.

Loomis wrote:

LIFE OF PI is an infinitely better film than PROMETHEUS. It also wipes the floor with PROMETHEUS in the 3D department.

Agreed. Even James Cameron is impressed. And Pi has become more than a sleeper hit.

I don't dislike PROMETHEUS. I enjoyed it well enough when I saw it at the cinema. It's a half-decent slab of brain-in-neutral entertainment, and the 3D is pretty good (as 3D in this sort of film goes, that is). That said, I've absolutely no desire to see it again. It does what it says on the tin, but what it says on the tin ain't all that much.

LIFE OF PI is to 3D feature films what Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was to pop music, namely a milestone release bestowing previously absent artistic credibility on the medium. Roger Ebert - who once declared: "I cannot imagine a serious drama, such as UP IN THE AIR or THE HURT LOCKER, in 3D" - writes: "What astonishes me is how much I love the use of 3-D in LIFE OF PI. I've never seen the medium better employed, not even in AVATAR, and although I continue to have doubts about it in general, Lee never uses it for surprises or sensations, but only to deepen the film's sense of places and events.

"Let me try to describe one point of view. The camera is placed in the sea, looking up at the lifeboat and beyond it. The surface of the sea is like the enchanted membrane upon which it floats. There is nothing in particular to define it; it is just … there. This is not a shot of a boat floating in the ocean. It is a shot of ocean, boat and sky as one glorious place." http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121120/REVIEWS/121129995

I hope that LIFE OF PI heralds a glorious new dawn for 3D as a storytelling tool for the serious filmmaker, as opposed to just a gimmick for franchise movies and blockbusters, but I have a feeling that it'll continue to be employed mostly for empty spectacle.

Great track from LINCOLN:

Largo's Shark wrote:

That's not that hard. PROMETHEUS was the most unpleasant experience I've ever had at the cinema.

KING KONG is mine.

Here's how I'd rank the best picture nominees:

ZERO DARK THIRTY
AMOUR
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
ARGO
LINCOLN
LIFE OF PI
DJANGO UNCHAINED

I refuse to see SILVER LININGS and LES MISERABLES.

Here's how I'd rank the best picture nominees:

LIFE OF PI ( flabbergasted, will have to see it again)
LES MISERABLES ( did see the musical in theater twice!)
ARGO (Ben does do very well in his 2nd term)
SILVER LININGS (surprisingly good)
LINCOLN (great movie!!!)

DJANGO UNCHAINED, stopped watching it QT is perhaps just not my cup of tea.

Have not yet seen these movies
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
AMOUR (am really looking forward to this one)
ZERO DARK THIRTY
.

I'll throw my hat in too. From what I've seen:

Life of Pi - would be one of the better BP winners of last decade or so
Amour - great performances, although I can't imagine it being an enjoyable cinema experience
Django Unchained - Tarantino shows his humanist side (by blowing himself up, of course ;) ), but I wouldn't call it an improvement over Basterds
Argo - well-made, neat dramatization, but ultimately too pedestrian for a BP win

Holy Motors tops them all for me - too bad it wasn't selected by the French Oscar committee, especially considering that Intouchables didn't even get the nomination.

I'm struggling to understand all the awards Argo has been sweeping up. Admittedly me and some friends only ended up watching it because the movie we wanted to see wasn't playing and the only options within the half-hour were Argo and SBS Wogs: The Movie (forgot the actual title). It was a decent, run-of-the-mill historical film about a fascinating chapter, but it had its fair share of dullness. Nothing spectacular or remarkable about it whatsoever.