Aw, I guessed wrong. I had thought that maybe while people appreciated The Hurt Locker, they weren't passionate about it; see Inglourious Basterd's win for ensemble, which is essentially Best Picture, at the SAG awards. But as soon as THL won both the sound wins over Avatar, I knew it had it in the bag.
Ugh, speaking of sound, I hated Morgan Freeman's "explanation" of what sound editing and mixing are. (I know he just read what someone else wrote, so I'm not mad at him.) Like, okay, editing is mostly finding/creating the right effects and layering them in, but mixing was described as getting the volumes of dialogue, effects and music at the right balance. That's, like, five percent of mixing. That's like saying that cinematography is about turning on the lights and pointing the camera toward the actors.
Okay show last night; bad transitions as always, but much less cringeworthy nonsense taking up space. I liked them showcasing the best score over the best songs for a change, but the dance troupe really wasn't necessary; if you can't just let people enjoy music, run a montage of moments in film from this year or something.
I wasn't really paying attention to the fashion much, and totally missed the red carpet, so I don't have much to say about that. I thought everyone looked nice except for Saldana's...puffy...things, and SJP looked horrifying and bizarre and IDGI. Helen Mirren remains a goddess, natch.
I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet (everything depends on when it finally shows up when I'm at the library), so take this with a grain of salt: I can't help but wonder if a lot of people voted for it having not seen it either, just hearing it was a good movie and, more importantly, that it was about the war. We're talking a political bunch out there. Actual merits of the film notwithstanding, I think it's kind of hilarious and awesome that a straight-up action thriller won best picture. Like Catherine said, this was from the woman who brought us Point Break.
Which reminds me: a woman won for Best Director! Let's celebrate!
5 comments:
I legitimately liked The Hurt Locker, and I didn't think it took a really political stance at all. It was like, "These guys are in Iraq, and this is the crazy, dangerous work that they do, and OMG STUFF BLOWS UP." It was definitely good. I don't know if I enjoyed it more than Avatar, since I rented the Hurt Locker instead of sitting in a 3-D theater, but yeah, you should check it out.
Helen Mirren always looks good. I did like the presenters' "Damn Helen Mirren." "That's DAME Helen Mirren."
I'm glad Avatar didn't win much. Enjoyable, but mostly for the utterly amazing special effects -- the plot was pretty stale and the acting nothing special. I haven't seen practically anything else.
I haven't seen the Hurt Locker either, but was happy to see Kathryn be the first woman to win Best Director - and beat her ex! How awesome is that?!
No, I know, Catherine! THL wasn't a political statement about the war - but I can't help but wonder if a lot of the people who voted for it thought it was. I went back and reread my post and it wasn't clear what I meant, but yeah, I think it's awesome that an action film won because I would bet a lot of people didn't know they were voting for an action film, because I doubt that everyone that voted for it actually saw it.
Hopefully now Bigelow can be introduced without mentioning that Cameron is her ex. No one talks about Cameron and begins the article with, "Kathryn Bigelow's ex-husband..." Grr argh.
Yeah, it kind of sucks, because nobody ever introduces James Cameron as "Kathryn Bigelow's ex-husband." Still, though, that is pretty great ex revenge, especially since she spent $11 mil on her movie and filmed it two months as opposed to four years.
Okay, I see what you're trying to say. I'm sure a lot of voters didn't see it (especially since there were 10 this year), and probably assumed the politics of the film, even though Avatar was more political than THL. Yay for action films.
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