Post by urbanpatrician on May 11, 2018 8:30:37 GMT
Not a bad year, an interesting group of nominees:
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Loved it back in 2007/2008. Pretty sure some of that has worn off, but because of how fondly I remember it, I definitely still call it among my favorites. It has a really strong story, it's beautifully felt, it's an easy choice for me for being the best film here based on film quality. And Zhang was so deep and had so much fire. I'll give it a 9/10
2. Erin Brockovich - I rewatched it just now. Such an enjoyable film with a well written script. It's the only screenplay this writer has come remotely close to gaining any awards for, but I feel it was deserved. I know it can be seen as early 00s fluff and it's not exactly cutting edge, but this is one of the better films of this caliber. Wears the mark of Julia Roberts all over. Julia's working mom attitude really appealed to me here, and her control of lines is pretty great. Must be a hard working performance, based on the sheer amount of lines she had to chew. Albert Finney an excellent compliment.... comprising of one of the better supporting actor categories. I feel comfortable calling Julia's performance one of my 5 favorite lead actress wins of the last 25 years. (Starting from after Emma Thompson) Swank's first win, Roberts, Cotillard, Blanchett, and Stone are the only 5 I really loved - though some I definitely haven't watched in a long time. I'll say it's between a 7.5-8, I'll settle for a 7.75 or something.
3. Traffic - I like it. Some parts of it were more entertaining than others. The Congressman's daughter story is definitely among the better ones. Zeta-Jones at the height of her looks. Del Toro was kicking ass. Douglas his usual solid commanding presence. This is definitely much better than a Gonzalo Iñárritu (don't really like that guy), and it's funny that it's been 18 years but it looks more like 8 years. Watching The Reader lately and discovering how badly that dated in half the time just proves how some films age well or bad. I'll give it a 7.5/10ish, but maybe just a tad lower than that.
4. Gladiator - Not really a huge fan. It started out well, but by the time I got the idea that "Crowe is going back to Rome under the guise of a Gladiator seeking revenge" I felt it took too long for that story to work out, and when that finally reached climax, it's one hour and 30 minutes later and I lost interest somewhere in between that. And all that mental-game shit going on between Phoenix and Crowe, Phoenix vs the Senate. And I could live without Crowe with the slaves. It got a bit boring. Crowe and Phoenix were just ok to me, but I'd take Rush and Dafoe, respectively. 6/10
5. Chocolat - Admittedly, I don't remember much about this. Not sure if I'll revisit it, but I don't recall being impressed by it. I'll say 6/10 because a 5 seems harsh for a film I don't really remember too well.
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Loved it back in 2007/2008. Pretty sure some of that has worn off, but because of how fondly I remember it, I definitely still call it among my favorites. It has a really strong story, it's beautifully felt, it's an easy choice for me for being the best film here based on film quality. And Zhang was so deep and had so much fire. I'll give it a 9/10
2. Erin Brockovich - I rewatched it just now. Such an enjoyable film with a well written script. It's the only screenplay this writer has come remotely close to gaining any awards for, but I feel it was deserved. I know it can be seen as early 00s fluff and it's not exactly cutting edge, but this is one of the better films of this caliber. Wears the mark of Julia Roberts all over. Julia's working mom attitude really appealed to me here, and her control of lines is pretty great. Must be a hard working performance, based on the sheer amount of lines she had to chew. Albert Finney an excellent compliment.... comprising of one of the better supporting actor categories. I feel comfortable calling Julia's performance one of my 5 favorite lead actress wins of the last 25 years. (Starting from after Emma Thompson) Swank's first win, Roberts, Cotillard, Blanchett, and Stone are the only 5 I really loved - though some I definitely haven't watched in a long time. I'll say it's between a 7.5-8, I'll settle for a 7.75 or something.
3. Traffic - I like it. Some parts of it were more entertaining than others. The Congressman's daughter story is definitely among the better ones. Zeta-Jones at the height of her looks. Del Toro was kicking ass. Douglas his usual solid commanding presence. This is definitely much better than a Gonzalo Iñárritu (don't really like that guy), and it's funny that it's been 18 years but it looks more like 8 years. Watching The Reader lately and discovering how badly that dated in half the time just proves how some films age well or bad. I'll give it a 7.5/10ish, but maybe just a tad lower than that.
4. Gladiator - Not really a huge fan. It started out well, but by the time I got the idea that "Crowe is going back to Rome under the guise of a Gladiator seeking revenge" I felt it took too long for that story to work out, and when that finally reached climax, it's one hour and 30 minutes later and I lost interest somewhere in between that. And all that mental-game shit going on between Phoenix and Crowe, Phoenix vs the Senate. And I could live without Crowe with the slaves. It got a bit boring. Crowe and Phoenix were just ok to me, but I'd take Rush and Dafoe, respectively. 6/10
5. Chocolat - Admittedly, I don't remember much about this. Not sure if I'll revisit it, but I don't recall being impressed by it. I'll say 6/10 because a 5 seems harsh for a film I don't really remember too well.
