tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post3914090182064974410..comments2024-03-25T21:14:21.671-04:00Comments on Listen Eggroll: Skandies: #1md'ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-32661315983404310012011-01-04T04:05:19.398-05:002011-01-04T04:05:19.398-05:00Its a good movie. I can simply say that though it ...Its a good movie. I can simply say that though it does not come up to everyone's expectation but its a one time watch.movieshttp://www.moviesplanet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-39969890784256709232010-02-26T11:10:21.469-05:002010-02-26T11:10:21.469-05:00P.S. to Previous Post-Mortem:
Word on the street i...P.S. to Previous Post-Mortem:<br />Word on the street is that I ruffled more feathers that I realized with my frequent Skandies commentary. Apologies to anyone who was annoyed. <br /><br />Truth is, I was dealing with stress-packed 14 hr. work days during the Skandies results reveal and was relying on escapes to this online oasis to keep me going. While my enthusiasm over being a new member was part of the equation in my rabid participation, the oasis thing was really the driving factor. I was quite the non-rabid participant during the decades reveal, so rest assured it was an anomaly this time -- the perfect storm, so to speak. Just wanted to let you know where I was coming from since it would be a shame to besmirch all this.<br /><br />Once again, it was a honor to participate. Best to you all.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-74529048013991563692010-02-23T03:33:21.597-05:002010-02-23T03:33:21.597-05:00What does it say about the supporting actor catego...What does it say about the supporting actor category that half of my ballot got no support other than my own?<br /><br />Does it mean that everyone showered Waltz with praise and dispersed their love to dozens of other actors? That the year was overflowing with talented supporting men? Or that I am just insane?<br /><br />For the record, the 5 guys I stand alone in support of are Jason Bateman, Eric Bana, Giovanni Ribisi, Jason Segel, and Shea Whigham.<br /><br />(Of leading men, only one of my nominees -- Gael Garcia -- got no other support).Private Jokerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08115036526759106746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-55839099699406470022010-02-22T15:12:13.474-05:002010-02-22T15:12:13.474-05:00Thanks kindly, Michael, but no apology necessary. ...Thanks kindly, Michael, but no apology necessary. My reference to your extraterrestrial comment was tongue-in-cheek vs. licking-my-wounds. I'm entertained by every aspect of the Skandies, including the smack talk. Please never pull your punches with me. I've sparred a few rounds with MD'A, so feel like I'm prepped to take all comers -- wearing an annoying grin all the while. Peace out.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-79425223213355453762010-02-22T08:55:56.801-05:002010-02-22T08:55:56.801-05:00Hey Nictate.
I'm sure my 2009 movie year woul...Hey Nictate.<br /><br />I'm sure my 2009 movie year would've been more enjoyable if, you know, I'd actually been able to leave the house.<br /><br />So all things considered, alien accusations aren't so bad.<br /><br />Nevertheless, my apologies. We are of peace. Always.Michaelhttp://academichack.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-79292816101447472842010-02-21T14:26:00.974-05:002010-02-21T14:26:00.974-05:00Wondering if anyone is going to take up Mike's...<i>Wondering if anyone is going to take up Mike's challenge to explain IB's awesomeness as something other than a fantasy about the power of the films of the cinema.</i><br /><br />Definitely not Nictate. <br /><br />Post-mortem:<br />While my enthusiasm has ruffled feathers and earned charges of an extraterrestrial lifestyle, I want to thank MD'A and the AVB for the chance to be a part of the venerable Skandies tradition. I've been a fan of you guys for a decade or more, so it's a honor. <br /><br />Thanks to Mark Pittillo, too. The ballot was easy to use and it's cool to be able to peruse all the stats and breakdowns on the Skandies site.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-30828630642835425332010-02-21T13:16:05.461-05:002010-02-21T13:16:05.461-05:00Wondering if anyone is going to take up Mike's...Wondering if anyone is going to take up Mike's challenge to explain <i>IB</i>'s awesomeness as something other than a fantasy about the power of the films of the cinema. I'm probably in M'Dad's camp --my biggest fear is that one day Quentin Tarantino is going to try to make some Big Serious Movie, and I enjoyed <i>IB</i> on a superficial level.jeff_vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774487308294920628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-89334110224597284052010-02-20T21:12:27.612-05:002010-02-20T21:12:27.612-05:00Based on Crix Pix, 2009 was a pretty average year ...Based on Crix Pix, 2009 was a pretty average year for movies according to CMs, not bad, not great. Like Michael, however, I personally thought it sucked and was probably the weakest year of the decade. I liked IB, but not enough to crack my top 10. Still, IB > DP.wughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01983147764149724992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-21255825257003934392010-02-20T18:56:37.897-05:002010-02-20T18:56:37.897-05:00The multiple, high-margin wins this year are [...]...<i>The multiple, high-margin wins this year are [...] a direct result of 2009 blowing inglourious chunks.</i><br /><br />I don't think so bud. The point of also having everyone submit star ratings is to allow comparisons from year to year. Granted, that's not super meaningful when it comes to films from the '90s, when the AVB was considerably less stingy with the high ratings than it is today. But if we look strictly at the films of the last decade, from 2000 on, <i>Inglourious Basterds</i> has the second highest average rating (3.46) of any film:<br /><br />01. 3.50 Yi Yi (A One and a Two…)<br />02. 3.46 Inglourious Basterds (2009)<br /> 3.46 There Will Be Blood (2007)<br />04. 3.45 In the Mood for Love (2001)<br /> 3.45 No Country for Old Men (2007)<br />06. 3.43 Before Sunset (2004)<br /> 3.43 Mulholland Dr. (2001)<br /> 3.43 Spirited Away (2002)<br />09. 3.42 The Departed (2006)<br /> 3.42 25th Hour (2002)<br /><br />That's got nothing to do with the state of cinema generally in 2009. It's just pretty damn beloved, for whatever reason.md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-56514731479590024052010-02-20T13:52:01.791-05:002010-02-20T13:52:01.791-05:00I didn't like Death Proof, I thought it was qu...<i>I didn't like Death Proof, I thought it was quite boring. If that was what Tarantino was trying to do with it, it went way over my head, and I'm not too sorry that it did.<br /><br />I found IB a much more enjoyable viewing experience. I thought scenes were thrilling, I wasn't really sure where things were going.</i><br /><br />Thanks for stopping by my blog, Dad. How are things working out with the new fridge?md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-58811107754461276872010-02-20T10:58:23.388-05:002010-02-20T10:58:23.388-05:00Last point: while I'm sorta mystified at the A...<i>Last point: while I'm sorta mystified at the AVB worship of Basterds, I'm far more mystified by the reaction to Basterds at Cannes.</i><br /><br />I'm speculating here, but maybe the French were not as cool with QT playing with their history.<br /><br />As to IB v. Death Proof, I didn't like Death Proof, I thought it was quite boring. If that was what Tarantino was trying to do with it, it went way over my head, and I'm not too sorry that it did.<br /><br />I found IB a much more enjoyable viewing experience. I thought scenes were thrilling, I wasn't really sure where things were going. It was a lot of fun, however when IB was over, I pretty much stopped thinking about it.<br /><br />So I guess your position on the two films is determined by which do you consider to be more important in a film: The film is fun to watch (like IB), or the film is fun to talk about afterward with your friends (like DP).Bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09213260380203964632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-20519566951422689132010-02-20T10:57:34.695-05:002010-02-20T10:57:34.695-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09213260380203964632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-21189603362988214882010-02-20T10:54:45.397-05:002010-02-20T10:54:45.397-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09213260380203964632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-56326728815472670852010-02-20T08:15:43.208-05:002010-02-20T08:15:43.208-05:00The ending of IB kind of ruins the movie. The supe...The ending of IB kind of ruins the movie. The super-Nazi-Waltz gives himself up with no real struggle, and the Hitler-killing-jerk-off-Bonanza is a cute idea for a short film but doesn't redeem/fulfill the 2½ hours spend watching it being build up to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-10889101629103664592010-02-20T05:10:01.492-05:002010-02-20T05:10:01.492-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-24699233267506644152010-02-20T05:07:26.632-05:002010-02-20T05:07:26.632-05:00If 2009 was a blow-chunky year, I hope cinema will...If 2009 was a blow-chunky year, I hope cinema will continue calling Ralph with such a breadth of brilliance for years to come. <br /><br />If we all followed MD'A's advice and voted as if we were the only person responding, based solely on personal taste, then the no-other-worthy-competition angle feels faulty. It's the August Voting Body, not the August Voting Board. Points is points. Passiondex is passiondex. The people have spoken and what not.<br /><br />It'll be very interesting to see how IB holds up in cinephiles' opinions as the years tick by. I predict it will have the evergreen sticking power of a Pulp Fiction.<br /><br />Oh, and the power of the cinema angle people refer to in IB is one of its least interesting aspects to me. More quaint than compelling.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-47398868301075601842010-02-20T04:11:43.051-05:002010-02-20T04:11:43.051-05:00Sigh...
I think this means I'm going to have...Sigh... <br /><br />I think this means I'm going to have to check Basterds out again, as I was one of the underwhelmed when I saw it last year...Dan Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09132976278885385086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-6495702804337987182010-02-20T03:08:57.606-05:002010-02-20T03:08:57.606-05:00Best silly screenplay and silly movie, IMO. Encha...Best silly screenplay and silly movie, IMO. Enchanted by entangled particles of statistics, which nobody really understands anyway.Tricianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-43642043636250887522010-02-20T02:35:05.263-05:002010-02-20T02:35:05.263-05:00Speaking as someone who did admire a great deal of...Speaking as someone who did admire a great deal of <i>Basterds</i> but also failed to find it the greatest motion picture of the decade or whatever, I kind of think this argument is a bit overblown. The multiple, high-margin wins this year are (<i>pace</i> Nictate, who is living on another planet as far as I can tell) a direct result of 2009 blowing inglourious chunks. <br /><br />But more importantly, Mike, I think your frustration with <i>Basterds</i>'s weaker elements is blinding you to the fact that this is NOT a fanboy vehicle. A great deal of it is talky talky talky, much of it relies on at least a passing familiarity with the tropes of straight-ahead WWII movies (as opposed to, say, Ringo Lam shootout choreography or Shaw Brothers wuxia), and it doles out its violence in stingy, rather complicated bursts (the Bear Jew aside). <br /><br />In fact, although I will gladly concede that <i>Death Proof</i> is the better film, I think you'd be hard-pressed to explain, just on the basis of its rudimentary contents, how it is somehow LESS of a fanboy film than <i>Basterds</i>. Even if it didn't have stuff like the Ship's Mast sequence and the whole gearhead thing working, QT still chose to festoon the goddamned thing with stoopid trailers and a piece of shit Robert Rodriguez film, for, you know, the Grindhouse Experience.<br /><br />So, to sum up:<br /><br />1) <i>Basterds</i>: essentially running unopposed<br /><br />2) we have nothing to be ashamed of; we just feted a film you don't likeMichaelhttp://academichack.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-52690364948779829212010-02-20T01:51:38.680-05:002010-02-20T01:51:38.680-05:00Here we go, it is the annual tradition in which D&...<i>Here we go, it is the annual tradition in which D'Angelo tries vainly to sell as objective a position that is clearly subjective.</i><br /><br />Where did I do that exactly? I'm not gonna be a weenie and constantly qualify every argument with "in my opinion" (unless I am employing the Vern-acular for the comic effect). Obviously it's subjective. Obviously most of the voters disagree. However, I think you guys are wrong, and wrong in an emphatic way that makes us as an entity look kind of stupid. If <i>Basterds</i> had won Picture but, say, Bigelow had won Director and Farmiga had won Supporting Actress, I wouldn't have said all that much. I didn't love <i>Breaking the Waves</i> or <i>Out of Sight</i> or <i>Yi Yi</i> or <i>4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days</i>, either, but they don't make me cringe the way <i>Basterds</i> does—perhaps because they don't feature an endless shot of a dark tunnel as someone bangs a baseball bat against the walls (ooo, badass) and then the someone turns out to be Eli Fucking Roth.<br /><br />(And yes, I know Roth is in <i>Death Proof</i> as well, but at least he's typecast as a tool in that one.)<br /><br />Also, I should note that we don't really know how <i>Death Proof</i> would have fared in the Skandies, as it was lumped together with <i>Planet Terror</i>, which most people found far inferior. Certainly it's significant that Tarantino placed 4th in Director that year while Rodriguez was totally AWOL. That <i>Grindhouse</i> itself still finished as high as #4, despite many folks disliking half the picture, suggests that <i>Death Proof</i> alone might well have done even better.md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-46569562682738484072010-02-19T21:25:09.850-05:002010-02-19T21:25:09.850-05:00huh, no one else liked Ruffalo or Brody in B. Bloo...<i>huh, no one else liked Ruffalo or Brody in B. Bloom? ok...</i><br /><br />Forgetting to include Ruffalo was a facepalm regret for me. I thought Brody was almost a deficit to TBB, but won't complain too much as I love the film and it's not like he made the wheels come off or anything.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-86326652067262146712010-02-19T21:23:10.077-05:002010-02-19T21:23:10.077-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Nictatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174200071752059810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-91320007518684948602010-02-19T20:53:16.083-05:002010-02-19T20:53:16.083-05:00That is correct. But then, Death Proof (in its ori...<i>That is correct. But then, Death Proof (in its original Grindhouse form) is a genuinely radical and subversive picture, which is why audiences stayed away in droves and awards groups—save for this one—paid no attention. Whereas Inglourious Basterds...</i><br /><br />Here we go, it is the annual tradition in which D'Angelo tries vainly to sell as objective a position that is clearly subjective. <br /><br />Look bud, I could put together some argument complete with "evidence" that positions <i>Basterds</i> as a more "genuinely radical and subversive picture" than <i>Death Proof</i> and a less fanboyish one to boot. But what would be the point. <br /><br />Why can you not just say "A QT picture which I loved did not win anything in my survey and a QT picture which I consider highly overrated won a bunch. This sucks in my opinion." Can you not see how this would make you seem way less retarded.Skanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12385467063868873824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-32701557246986222082010-02-19T20:52:13.704-05:002010-02-19T20:52:13.704-05:00Some stray remarks after looking at the ballots -
...Some stray remarks after looking at the ballots -<br /><br />- huh, no one else liked Ruffalo or Brody in B. Bloom? ok...<br /><br />- as odd as the IB almost sweep seems, it's also hard to see an obvious "shoulda" for any of those categories either. Lots of contenders, but mostly on par with QT and gang. I haven't seen Basterds since it was in theaters so I'll have to see how it holds up. <br /><br />- I have a lot of movies to catch up on<br /><br />- I forgot we have the writer of Heathers voting in this now. (and yes, I know he's done other things too but that's a longtime fave)Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18168211342797984444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-716677890889062832010-02-19T19:01:40.656-05:002010-02-19T19:01:40.656-05:00I'm not gonna write what would be a lengthy es...I'm not gonna write what would be a lengthy essay on <i>Death Proof</i> in this space. The short version is that the film is essentially structuralist—it's <i>The Double Life of Véronique</i> reconceived as auto porn, with ensembles in lieu of protagonists. (In what may be the most pretentious argument in the history of film criticism—but I stand by it—I once compared the two groups of gal pals to entangled particles.)md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.com