Open Forum Friday: Are This Year’s Oscar Contenders Weaker Than Usual?
With the end of the year quickly approaching and the Golden Globe nominees being announced yesterday, it’s hard not to be thinking about Oscars as well. Now I’m not really big on awards in general, but the thing with the Oscars is that you can usually count on some kick ass movies sneaking into theatres right at the end of the year in order to be considered. But as I scan through the release list for the rest of December, I find myself a little bit underwhelmed.
Children of Men and Rocky Balboa are must-sees for me, but there really isn’t much else to get excited about. As far as the Golden Globe nominees, it seems to me like there just aren’t that many movies worth recognizing this year. Now granted, I haven’t seen some of the critical favourites like Little Children or The Queen (the latter of which holds a staggering 98% on Rotten Tomatoes), but even movies like Flags of our Fathers and Bobby, which had a lot of initial Oscar buzz, ended up getting rather disappointing reviews. Am I just imagining it, or is 2006 looking at a pretty weak crop of Oscar contenders? Was 2006 a bad year for movies in general? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (11)
it wont be the right time to say until the last batch of christmas releases comes around…
that said, so long as the Oscar winner is better than “crash” (and it would certainly have to be - worst oscar winner ever) - meh.
Posted by Goon on December 15th, 2006My thoughts is that it’s been a disappointing year in general. The big blockbusters were big but not great and the Oscar contenders are mediocre at best. The list of Golden Globe nominees wasn’t surprising but it was very blah. Acting wise, I can see why most were nominated but film wise, there’s some slim pikin’s there. “Bobby” for best picture and “Babel”? Don’t get me wrong, they were both OK but not best picture worthy.
And you’re totally right Sean - December is always a mad rush for final Oscar contenders (last year’s Christmas rush was pretty good) but ‘06 is looking dim.
Posted by Marina on December 15th, 2006My god.. Babel is worthy of a nomination. It’s better than any of the oscar nominated movies from last year.
If Little Miss Sunshine can get nominated for anything (Toni Collette for acting? NICE!) then Babel should have no problem.
Posted by Henrik on December 15th, 2006I’m going to try and watch Babel this weekend so I’ll let you know what I think of it.
Posted by Sean on December 15th, 2006Well, I hope you like it so I won’t have to defend it all the time on here ;).
Posted by Henrik on December 15th, 2006Looking over the last 10 movies coming out, I think Dreamgirls is the one I’m looking forward to the most. I like Jamie Foxx, and I want to see Eddie Murphy do good.
I’m gonna see Iwo Jima as well. I saw Flags of our fathers (oddly enough with both my father and his father) and it was pretty shit. Just slightly above Saving Private Ryan but not by much (it actually has a father telling his son with his dying breath “i’m sorry i wasn’t a better father… talk to you more” to which the son replies “you were the best father one could ever hope for.” AND it has japanese soldiers crying out “AAAAIIIIIYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” just before they stab you from behind, to give you time to turn around to fight them.) But it was produced by Spielberg so… (I’m not looking for a fight!)
However, while Flags didn’t win anything, Iwo Jima is winning a ton of shit, and that makes me interested to see if it’s good.
Posted by Henrik on December 15th, 2006Oh and something cool:
The movie that actually got me introduced to filmjunk when you dudes were talking about it at the movie blog Pathfinder, actually comes out January 12th, and that’s the release date you should be pissed if they change.
Posted by Henrik on December 15th, 2006It’s not that I didn’t like Babel - it’s one of the best of the year for sure but I’m not sure it’s “the best” of the year. As for Eastwood, “Flags” didn’t do anything for me but from the moment I found out the premise of “Letters” and that it was completely in Japanese, I was sold.
“Pathfinder”…I was pissed they changed the release of this from 06 to 07. Feels like I’ve been looking forward to that movie for years. Musicals I’m not a fan of but I’m curious about “Dreamgirls” because of Jennifer Hudson. I’ve heard her speak and she interests me.
Posted by Marina on December 15th, 2006Is Dreamgirls a real musical? Like does it have tons of songs, or is it a musical the way Walk the Line is a musical?
If it has songs in it, I’m not very excited. I just want to see Foxx playing a machiavellian sleazy producer.
Posted by Henrik on December 16th, 2006This year I’ve noticed more sequels and remakes than ever before. The studios still make their money, so they keep pumping them out. The result is an overabundance of luke-warm, watered-down films that lack one of the fundamental elements of a good movie: originality. Don’t get me wrong, there has been some great films this year (Babel, Pan’s Labyrinth and Little Miss Sunshine to name a few), but the pickings are slim. The studios ought to grow some balls and invest in some original content if anything for the sake of “oscar season”.
Posted by Andrew on December 16th, 2006Oh yes Henrik. “Dreamgirls”, from what I’ve heard and read, is a full on musical like “Chicago”. Mostly music.
And well said Andrew. Now if the studios would only listen…
Posted by Marina on December 19th, 2006Leave a Reply