Seriously, Don't Watch the Oscars

[Ubiquitous]

Are you going to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday? Please don't.
You'll only drive yourself crazy. If you love Donald Trump, you'll
be outraged at all of the idiotic, self-important protests. If you
hate Donald Trump you'll be exasperated that the idiots in Hollywood
somehow managed to find the most annoying and counter-productive
ways to oppose the Orange Menace. It's a lose-lose proposition.

Plus, La La Land is going to win everything. All the statistical
models show that it has a 95.3 percent chance. So it's a lock. Those
things are never wrong.

Though, in all seriousness, La La Land really is going to win
everything. This is the least suspenseful Oscar night since 1997.

So do yourself a favor: Instead of sitting through the Oscar
telecast, watch a movie!

I know, it's a crazy idea.

On this week's episode of the Substandard podcast—which will be
posted here this morning—we argue about the best and worst movies to
have won the Oscar for Best Picture. I don't want to spoil it. But I
will say this: In prepping for the show, I was shocked at how
mediocre Best Picture winners are, as a class.

If you take the last 50 Best Picture winners, it's hard to find even
five legitimately great movies. It's impossible to find ten of them
in the bunch. Most of the winners are pretty good; some of them are
just embarrassments.

And when you look at the last twenty years, it turns out that most
of the movies which we now regard as modern classics weren't even
nominated. If we had time, I could write you a convincing 4,000
words arguing that The Dark Knight, Layercake, and Heat are the
three best movies of the last two decades. None of them were
nominated for Best Picture.

Neither, by the by, were The Big Lebowski. Or Jurassic Park. Or
Boogie Nights. I could go on and on and on.

On the one hand, I'm sympathetic to the notion that it's hard to
judge art in the moment and that you can't really evaluate the
greatness of a film until you've had a few years to let it sink in.

On the other, I don't understand how anyone could have walked out of
the theater from any of those films and not understood they had seen
something special. And I cannot imagine how anyone walked out of The
Cider House Rules and thought, "This might have been the best movie
of the year!"

So skip the Oscars. Go watch Layercake—which is smart and funny and
interesting and the greatest gangster movie since Goodfellas (at
least).


--
Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.

[Michael Black]

On Fri, 24 Feb 2017, Ubiquitous wrote:

>
> Are you going to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday? Please don't.
> You'll only drive yourself crazy. If you love Donald Trump, you'll
> be outraged at all of the idiotic, self-important protests. If you
> hate Donald Trump you'll be exasperated that the idiots in Hollywood
> somehow managed to find the most annoying and counter-productive
> ways to oppose the Orange Menace. It's a lose-lose proposition.
>

But I've never really watched. It's too long, I'm not that interested in
who wins. Every so often I've sampled it, but it goes on and on and
anything I'd want to see comes late, or is just an announced comment that
such and such aware was handed out the night before.

Even when Wendy Tilby was up for an Oscar for animated short, in the early
nineties, I didn't watch. I would have liked that, then we'd have had an
"Oscar winning Wendy".

It's just another night without any good programming. It's a shame Doctor
Strange won't be available until Tuesday, because if I had it now, I'd
watch it Sunday night. I guess I'll pick some other movie, or go to sleep
early.

Michael

[David Johnston]

On 2/24/2017 3:12 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> Are you going to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday? Please don't.
> You'll only drive yourself crazy. If you love Donald Trump, you'll
> be outraged at all of the idiotic, self-important protests. If you
> hate Donald Trump you'll be exasperated that the idiots in Hollywood
> somehow managed to find the most annoying and counter-productive
> ways to oppose the Orange Menace. It's a lose-lose proposition.
>
> Plus, La La Land is going to win everything. All the statistical
> models show that it has a 95.3 percent chance. So it's a lock. Those
> things are never wrong.
>
> Though, in all seriousness, La La Land really is going to win
> everything. This is the least suspenseful Oscar night since 1997.
>
> So do yourself a favor: Instead of sitting through the Oscar
> telecast, watch a movie!
>
> I know, it's a crazy idea.
>
> On this week's episode of the Substandard podcast—which will be
> posted here this morning—

You know it would be a lot more convenient if we had a link to click on.

[Neill Massello]

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

> In prepping for the show, I was shocked at how mediocre Best Picture
> winners are, as a class.

No reason to be shocked. Mediocrity is what democracy (voting) tends to
produce. On the plus side, it usually avoids the worst; but on the minus
side, it rarely achieves the best.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <alpine.LNX.2.02.1...@darkstar.example.org>,

The physical discs aren't 'till next week, but the hidef 'Blu-ray'
version is available streaming. Amazon has it with an hour of extra
footage!

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/doctor-strange-blu-raydvd-release-date-a
nd-details/1100-6446702/

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

[hector]

I usually watch the Oscars live in Australia, 12.30 pm on the Monday.
I doubt I will this year.
Wasn't 97 the year Spielberg and Hanks were a bit dismayed when Director
Oscars and Best Picture for Saving Private Ryan didn't come through?

[hector]

On 24/02/2017 9:12 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:

And everytime I hear about La La Land I'm reminded about the Woody Allen
musical from about 1996. What's the real difference between them?

[hector]

Streaming and Bluray version are mutually exclusive.

[Lewis]

In message <o8pete$ovf$8...@dont-email.me> Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

> Are you going to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday? Please don't.

I never do, but I might this year. I expect at least a few good speeches
about the diseased shitpile in the Oval Office, and maybe some about
Trump as well.

> Though, in all seriousness, La La Land really is going to win
> everything. This is the least suspenseful Oscar night since 1997.

That will be annoying. But then again, the best picture of the year
nearly never wins the award.

> On this week's episode of the Substandard podcast—which will be
> posted here this morning—we argue about the best and worst movies to
> have won the Oscar for Best Picture. I don't want to spoil it. But I
> will say this: In prepping for the show, I was shocked at how
> mediocre Best Picture winners are, as a class.

About half of them are genuinely bad movies.

> If you take the last 50 Best Picture winners, it's hard to find even
> five legitimately great movies. It's impossible to find ten of them
> in the bunch. Most of the winners are pretty good; some of them are
> just embarrassments.

Great movies nearly never win awards. The only great movie I can think
of that won recently was No Country for Old Men. Before that...

<looks>

Schindler's List and Silence of that Lambs in 1993 and 1991,
respectively).

Um...

Amadeus... No, not great.

<looking>

Ah, there we go, 1969, 1970, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, and 77. That was quite
a run.

Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, Godfather
II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, and Annie Hall. Rocky is the
worst of these, and maybe isn't actually great, but it gets props for
being such an important film.

And in the middle of all that was The Sting in 1973 which while not a
great movie, was a very entertaining and good movie. Not like most of
the utter dross that gets the win.

I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.

> And when you look at the last twenty years, it turns out that most
> of the movies which we now regard as modern classics weren't even
> nominated. If we had time, I could write you a convincing 4,000
> words arguing that The Dark Knight, Layercake, and Heat are the
> three best movies of the last two decades. None of them were
> nominated for Best Picture.

I disagree about Heat (good. Very good. Not great) and I've not seen
Layercake, but Dark Knight is a vastly underrated movie and one of the
best acting performances of all time.

> So skip the Oscars. Go watch Layercake—which is smart and funny and
> interesting and the greatest gangster movie since Goodfellas (at
> least).

OK.

--
"Reality continues to ruin my life."

[Lewis]

In message <o8quqg$56t$1...@dont-email.me> hector <bob...@there.com> wrote:
> Wasn't 97 the year Spielberg and Hanks were a bit dismayed when Director
> Oscars and Best Picture for Saving Private Ryan didn't come through?

No. Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 movies. 1997 was the year that Titanic
won all the things.

--
Sometimes the gods have no taste at all. They allow sunrises and sunsets
in ridiculous pink and blue hues that any professional artist would
dismiss as the work of some enthusiastic amateur who'd never looked at a
real sunset. This was one of those sunrises. It was the kind of sunrise
a man looks at and says, 'No real sunrise could paint the sky Surgical
Appliance Pink.' Nevertheless, it was beautiful. --The Thief of Time

[hector]

On 26/02/2017 8:08 AM, Lewis wrote:
> In message <o8quqg$56t$1...@dont-email.me> hector <bob...@there.com> wrote:
>> Wasn't 97 the year Spielberg and Hanks were a bit dismayed when Director
>> Oscars and Best Picture for Saving Private Ryan didn't come through?
>
> No. Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 movies. 1997 was the year that Titanic
> won all the things.
>

okay, thanks for telling

[Arc Michael]

Patton was surprisingly good!

[Ubiquitous]

Or you looked where they're sppsd to be.

[Lesmond]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:

>
>I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
>Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
>Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
>those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
>smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.

Ah, the olden days when I saw every movie. As opposed to now when I haven't
even heard of half of them.

And Kiss of the Spider Woman should have won.

Or The Color Purple, at least.

--
She may contain the urge to run away
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breeze blocks

[moviePig]

On 2/27/2017 9:52 AM, Lesmond wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:
>
>>
>> I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
>> Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
>> Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
>> those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
>> smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.
>
> Ah, the olden days when I saw every movie. As opposed to now when I haven't
> even heard of half of them.
>
> And Kiss of the Spider Woman should have won.
>
> Or The Color Purple, at least.

I'm too lazy to check this out, but I'd bet that a B.P. Oscar correlates
inversely with an eventual consensus of greatness.

--

- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com

[Michael Black]

On Mon, 27 Feb 2017, Lesmond wrote:

> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:
>
>>
>> I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
>> Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
>> Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
>> those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
>> smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.
>
> Ah, the olden days when I saw every movie. As opposed to now when I haven't
> even heard of half of them.
>
> And Kiss of the Spider Woman should have won.
>

I got a special thanks on that one. Unfortunately, it's for one of the
other Michael Blacks, I think a Hollywood producer.

Michael

[Nancy2]

Too bad you are wrong about La La Land. As for what you think are
great and what anyone else thinks are great, it is just an opinion, and everyone's
got one.

N.

[Lewis]

Because in general they choose crappy movies.

But as I posted elsethread, 1969-1978 was a damn good run. then they
went and spoiled it by giving it to The Deer Hunter which had exactly
one decent scene in 1 4 hour pile of crap.

And Silence of the Lambs is still a great movie, despite winning Best
Picture.


--
'You've got the loudest silences I ever did hear from anyone who wasn't
dead!' --Lords and Ladies

[Lesmond]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:48:38 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:

>In message <58b44459$0$51789$c3e8da3$f626...@news.astraweb.com> moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com> wrote:
>> On 2/27/2017 9:52 AM, Lesmond wrote:
>>> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
>>>> Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
>>>> Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
>>>> those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
>>>> smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.
>>>
>>> Ah, the olden days when I saw every movie. As opposed to now when I haven't
>>> even heard of half of them.
>>>
>>> And Kiss of the Spider Woman should have won.
>>>
>>> Or The Color Purple, at least.
>
>> I'm too lazy to check this out, but I'd bet that a B.P. Oscar correlates
>> inversely with an eventual consensus of greatness.
>
>Because in general they choose crappy movies.
>
>But as I posted elsethread, 1969-1978 was a damn good run. then they
>went and spoiled it by giving it to The Deer Hunter which had exactly
>one decent scene in 1 4 hour pile of crap.

The Deer Hunter actually traumatized me.

>
>And Silence of the Lambs is still a great movie, despite winning Best
>Picture.

Yeah, for all you folks who had never seen a real horror movie before. It's
just ain't all that.

[Lewis]

In message <yrfzbaqirevmbaar...@192.168.0.8> Lesmond <les...@verizon.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:48:38 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:

>>In message <58b44459$0$51789$c3e8da3$f626...@news.astraweb.com> moviePig <pwal...@moviepig.com> wrote:
>>> On 2/27/2017 9:52 AM, Lesmond wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I mean, in 1985 (yes, I am still mad about this), Out of Africa beat
>>>>> Prizzi's Honor for best picture. What the fucking fuck? It also beat
>>>>> Witness, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Color Purple. Every one of
>>>>> those "losers" was at least 10x better than Out of Africa which was
>>>>> smarmy crap wrapped in syrup.
>>>>
>>>> Ah, the olden days when I saw every movie. As opposed to now when I haven't
>>>> even heard of half of them.
>>>>
>>>> And Kiss of the Spider Woman should have won.
>>>>
>>>> Or The Color Purple, at least.
>>
>>> I'm too lazy to check this out, but I'd bet that a B.P. Oscar correlates
>>> inversely with an eventual consensus of greatness.
>>
>>Because in general they choose crappy movies.
>>
>>But as I posted elsethread, 1969-1978 was a damn good run. then they
>>went and spoiled it by giving it to The Deer Hunter which had exactly
>>one decent scene in 1 4 hour pile of crap.

> The Deer Hunter actually traumatized me.

It was a weak boring movie for me after seeing Apocalypse Now.

>>And Silence of the Lambs is still a great movie, despite winning Best
>>Picture.

> Yeah, for all you folks who had never seen a real horror movie before. It's
> just ain't all that.

It's a very good movie with two outstanding performances. There is a
reason it won the "big 5" Oscars (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor,
Actor)



--
Love is like oxygen / You get too much / you get too high / Not enough
and you're gonna die

[Arc Michael]

On Monday, February 27, 2017 at 7:23:08 AM UTC-8, moviePig wrote:
> On 2/27/2017 9:52 AM, Lesmond wrote:
> > On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:20:52 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:

if it correlates it has to be statistics maths. you are a liberal arts dummy.

[Lesmond]

Big Titanic fan, are you?

[Lewis]

I don't remember either Helen Hunt nor Jack Nicholson in Titanic.

Screenplay awards went to LA Confidential and Good WIll Hunting, so of
the "Big 5" Titanic won 2.

--
Heisenberg's only uncertainty was what pub to vomit in next and Jung
fancied Freud's mother too. -- Jared Earle

[Adam H. Kerman]

Let us all be silent for a moment to honor the people who lost their
lives when the Titanic sunk.

[Lesmond]

But best picture means it has to be really good, right?

[anim8rfsk]

In article <yrfzbaqirevmbaar...@192.168.0.8>,

Generally the opposite.

[TT]

Nope. Only for the past few years.

There are lots of great Oscar winners...

Rocky
Dances with Wolves
Ben-Hur
All Quiet on the Western Front
Schindler's List

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Unforgiven
The King's Speech
Rain Man
The Sting
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Kramer vs. Kramer
Ordinary People
The Lost Weekend
Rebecca
The Godfather
Titanic
Forrest Gump
American Beauty
Braveheart
The Silence of the Lambs
Gladiator
Crash
A Beautiful Mind
Amadeus
The Deer Hunter
Lawrence of Arabia
Midnight Cowboy
In the Heat of the Night
My Fair Lady
On the Waterfront
The French Connection
The Last Emperor
Out of Africa
The Apartment

Etc

[Lesmond]

Yes, I know.

[Lewis]

Have you not been reading the thread?

--
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

[Lewis]

> Dances with Wolves

Meh.

> Unforgiven

Good, not great.

> The King's Speech

A good movie with good acting. Best Picture? I
don't think so.

> Rain Man

Eh. Good movie, not a great movie.

> Titanic

Entertaining. Well made, but certainly not a great movie. and, as
usual, beat much better movies.

> Forrest Gump

A steaming pile of crap.

> Braveheart

A Steaming bloody pile of crap.

> The Silence of the Lambs
> Gladiator

Bravehart, but with Romans. A very stupid movie, albeit entertaining.
Certainly not "Best Picture" of any year.

> Crash

Good acting, lousy movie.

> The Deer Hunter

Dross.

> My Fair Lady

A good, but not great, musical. Not an especially great movie, but at
least it has some lasting power.

> The Last Emperor

Overrated.

> Out of Africa

Smarmy treacle wrapped shit.

--
Han : You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake, well, this
could be it, sweetheart. Leia: I take it back.