On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:24:05 -0400, Professor Bubba
<bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid> wrote:
>In article <
3jjgr8ls2lea1gfc8...@4ax.com>, Mason Barge
><
mason...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:05:06 -0700 (PDT), jdunlop <
jdu...@aol.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >On Jun 11, 7:09Â pm, Mason Barge <
masonba...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:30:20 -0600, David Johnston <
Da...@block.net>
>> >> wrote:
>> >
>> >> This year's Academy Award nominations:
>> >>
>> >> Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables,
>> >> Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
>> >>
>> >> 60 years ago:
>> >>
>> >> Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, the Music Man, Mutiny on the
>> >> Bounty, To Kill a Mockingbird.
>> >>
>> >> It's hard to fathom how or why, but for my money, every best picture
>> >> nominee in 1962 was better than any nominee in 2012. At the very
>> >> least, it isn't 60 years of progress.
>> >
>> >Guys, please don't make me (born in 1960) any older than I am, which
>> >is 53. 1962 was FIFTY years ago. (+1 of course, but you were talking
>> >about the Oscar nominees.)
>>
>> "Homer nodded."
>
>
>Lawrence of Arabia — A well-made bore.
Heretic!!! I loved it and IIRC so did most everybody. Really one of
the great stories of all time, beautifully shot, with some great
recreation of the British Army in Egypt and commentary about the
Franco-British bungling in the Middle East. An A+ classic.
>The Longest Day — A game of spot-the-star, accompanied by lots of
>explosions.
Are you serious? It was a fascinating collection of vignettes
personalizing a really interesting battle.
>The Music Man — Feh. Robert Preston was great, though.
Well, it *was* cheesy. But Preston wasn't just great, his material
was also great. Despite the unfortunate parts, I'd watch it right now
in preference to any of the 2012 entries.
>Mutiny on the Bounty — Awful, awful, awful. Even the version with Mel
>Gibson was better than this one.
Okay, I never actually watched it. I'll take your word for it.
>To Kill a Mockingbird — Truly one of the great American films. So
>there's one, anyway.
>
>I've only seen Argo, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook, but any of
>them was better than at least three of the films on the 1962 list.
Lincoln - tragic self-conscious bore. One of the most fascinating
people in American history, too. I wanted to puke.
Argo - a pitiful bit of Hollywood narcissism. Let's put this
side-by-side with "Lawrence of Arabia". Two words: "Ben Affleck". I
win.
Silver Linings Playbook - very entertaining with lots of laughs,
really the only decent movie of the bunch. I'm not sure the excellent
entertainment value can completely overcome the distortion of bipolar
disorder, but maybe I've just had more experience with it than most
people. Also in its favor - a decent comedy is hard to find.
So, okay, I'll give you that one over Mutiny on the Bounty. It still
isn't close.
Also, I haven't seen "Life of Pi" and I liked the book.
I did just watch "Zero Dark Forty" and it was downright bad, despite
the best efforts of Jessica Chastain, who is brilliant in every role
she takes. Take her out of the equation and this is an absolute dog.
Boring, very badly directed, badly shot, badly scripted.