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Monthly Archives: February 2013

Oscars 2013: a disappointing showering of love for Affleck’s Argo

220px-85th_Academy_Awards_PosterOf the acting awards I can support all 4 (Jennifer Lawrence for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, Daniel Day Lewis for LINCOLN, Anne Hathaway for LES MISERABLES and Christoph Waltz for DJANGO UNCHAINED), plus Ang Lee for directing LIFE OF PI – but I was very disappointed with the Academy for showering Ben Affleck with love for ARGO (best picture).

It was a good movie, but simply not as a great as any of the others that were nominated – how about any of those 5 above + ZERO DARK THIRTY, for a start? We’ve seen the Academy dole out gongs ‘retroactively’ for snubs of prior superior work (e.g. Martin Scorcese finally winning for THE DEPARTED), but Ben Affleck’s previous movies don’t qualify there. Or maybe the insular delusion of “Hollywood saves the day” was just too tempting not to vote for (more cynically, maybe they thought that every extra viewer who sees the film because it won, and can be brainwashed as to Hollywood’s social value, is worth compromising the integrity of the award). Either way, badly played Academy voters, badly played.

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2013 in Film Reviews, Passive Media

 

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Silver Linings Playbook (2012, dir. David O. Russell): an exceptionally good rom-com

Silver_Linings_Playbook_PosterContrary to popular opinion, I will willingly watch and enjoy a rom-com if it’s exceptionally good; such a film only comes along once every 2-3 years, and happily this one’s fits the bill 🙂 … A fresh take on the rom-com formula, with sassy Juno or Little Miss Sunshine-like script and dialog, two very appealing leads, and great acting from the whole cast (including Robert De Niro in his best recent role, and Bradley Cooper going from strength to strength), but the standout has to be Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-worthy performance. Even included a meta reference to her Hunger Games alter ego via a speech about The Lord of the Flies. Though I have to say we particularly enjoyed Cooper’s diatribe about Ernest Hemingway which invited parallels to the recent disappointments of Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey.

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Posted by on February 15, 2013 in Film Reviews, Passive Media

 

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Zero Dark Thirty (2012, dir. Kathryn Bigelow): complex, politically ambiguous, well executed, fictionalized account of the Bin Laden takedown

220px-ZeroDarkThirty2012Poster“We don’t know what we don’t know”
“What the f*ck does that mean?”
(Take that, Mr Rumsfeld)

Gripping yarn of CIA agent ‘Maya’ and her single-minded 12-year quest to hunt down Bin Laden. However, it will likely forfeit Best Picture at the Oscars due to the controversy around its alleged support for torture, e.g. the film doesn’t show all the false leads generated that wasted the CIA’s time. It does provide fascinating insight into how an intelligence officer operates, though on this count the movie has been criticized by CIA agents for over-egging the indiivdual hunches and contributions of ‘Maya’ (and underplaying teamwork and the reams of boring desk analysis).

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Posted by on February 9, 2013 in Film Reviews, Passive Media

 

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Django Unchained (2012, dir. Quentin Tarantino): QT’s best since Pulp Fiction

220px-Django_Unchained_PosterTarantino’s best film since Pulp Fiction – there’s a remote chance the Academy might throw him a bone on this one since they snubbed him in 1994 in favour of the interminably bad Forrest Gump (anyone remember that one?) However, not impressed that Quentin is copying JJ Abrams – all this lens flare everywhere, offing his cameo character in the same way as Ilana Verdansky (Jacob’s bounty hunter follower on Lost), plus random guys with Australian accents in the 19th century American deep south are the new Star Trek redshirts …

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2013 in Film Reviews, Passive Media

 

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