It’s time for my favorite part of the Oscar season, and honestly my favorite part of the year: Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot Season! The Oscar votes have been sent in and the campaigns are over. The Oscars are on Sunday. So The Hollywood Reporter publishes their anonymous-voter pieces where they sit there with an Oscar voter as the voter explains why he or she is voting for particular films or performances. The first voter is a member of the Producers Guild and he’s a dude. You can tell he’s a dude because he makes a “joke” about Gary Oldman beating his wife. Because laughs, ha ha, domestic abuse, get it? You can read the full ballot here. Some assorted thoughts from this voter:
He didn’t like Call Me By Your Name: “I didn’t like Call Me by Your Name. From what I understand, there was less of a difference between the ages of the young boy and his lover in the book, but I have to tell you, in the movie version it looked like a 35- or 40-year-old guy was hitting on a 16- or 17-year-old boy, and it just seemed wrong. It would have been wrong if they were heterosexuals.
He thought The Post was over-directed: “With The Post, Spielberg couldn’t get out of his own f–king way. He gave every actor business. [“Business” meaning physical actions beyond delivering lines.] I felt like he saw Birdman and said, “Let’s do that, only I’m gonna make everybody fiddle about with something in their pocket or a cigarette or whatever.” It killed me. It was a great story with a great cast that got over-Spielberg-ized.
He actually has the right idea about Three Billboards: “Three Billboards [Outside Ebbing, Missouri]? Nothing was honest about that movie. The acting was superb, but the characters didn’t seem real and the story seemed exactly like what it was: a Brit’s version of America. I don’t feel that if I went to Ebbing, Missouri, that is how it would be.
He thought The Shape of Water was brilliant: “Part of the reason why I liked The Shape of Water more than the others is it’s only “topical” in that it deals with outsiders, not racism or sexism or anything else. [Sally Hawkins’ character] is in love with something different. Good for her. I was gobsmacked by the film.
How he voted for Best Actor: “I don’t understand why everyone’s so crazy for [Get Out’s] Daniel Kaluuya. Timothee [Chalamet, of Call Me by Your Name] is a brave little actor — I can’t say I liked the movie, but he’s a huge talent. Straight or gay — I don’t know his orientation [ed. note: he’s straight] — he did a great job. I happened to really like Denzel Washington in Roman J. Israel, Esq. — it was one of the freshest things I’ve seen him do in years — but the movie itself just didn’t stand out. Daniel Day-Lewis was brilliant, but not Oscar-winning brilliant. This one was easy: [Darkest Hour’s] Gary Oldman was so good that I don’t care if he hit his wife with a telephone. [In 2001, the actor’s then-spouse alleged that he beat her with one; he denied the allegations and was never charged.] I hate when people use words like “transformative,” but what they did to make him look like Churchill and what he did in that role can only be described as that. He blew it out of the water.
His vote for Best Supporting Actor: “[The Florida Project’s] Willem Dafoe was my favorite. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just be a guy, without any bells or whistles, and he felt like the guy who took care of stuff at that motel, who was the yes-man for the owner, who dealt with that goofy f–king whacked-out bitch [the mother of the child protagonist, played by Bria Vinaite] and all of that. Man, that movie got f–king screwed. Little Brooklynn [Prince] is so brilliant, I would have nominated her. A lot of people just found it too sad, but I didn’t feel that way myself.
I only really “felt” this guy twice – his diss of Three Billboards is perfectly on point, and his praise of The Florida Project is perfect too. I loved The Florida Project and Dafoe should be a much bigger contender for Best Supporting, because he was just believable as a good, normal guy who did his job and had regular-guy problems. But then this producer just destroys that goodwill with the stupid Gary Oldman “joke” and everything else, really. Also: I’ve seen The Darkest Hour and it’s a piece of sh-t. Oldman is terrible in a terrible film (I have more thoughts about this, which I will publish in a separate post).
Photos courtesy of WENN.
His comment about the age difference being a problem regardless of sexual orientation….hmmm… I’m assuming he practically seethes at every Woody Allen film then?
Are Woody Allen films about an underage person being with someone twice his or her age? I don’t watch them, so don’t know.
I felt gross watching the trailer to the film. Never could I actually view it.
Yes, yes they are.
Allen’s infamous for featuring May-December romances, pretty much exclusively with a young woman and a (much) older man. Someone actually made a chart of it:
https://mic.com/articles/185578/heres-a-chart-showing-the-age-gaps-between-romantic-partners-in-woody-allens-movies#.HAU2330IU
“Manhattan” did feature a 17 yo actress with 43 yo Allen as her romantic partner. Not sure if that’s underage. Some of the age gaps are 40 years.
Or any Hollywood film. I mean, Scarlett Johansen has bitched about being considered “too old” for roles where she’s the girlfriend of someone in his forties.
The person is a sexist and racist creep. No wonder he is an Oscar voter.
It’s not just the Oscar voter who doesn’t care about Oldman; lots of people still watch his movies… 🙁
Lots of people HERE defended him while slamming her. So yeah, people don’t care.
ETA: see comments below.
Oh, and don’t come at me with “she had custody taken away” etc because I’m not here for excuses.
You like the guy and think he’s a great actor. Cool. Just say as much without sh*tting on his ex because NONE of us know the intimate details of what happened between them.
I choose to believe her and you choose not to. Fine.
I still defend him. He got the kids and got clean. I feel the same about her as i do about Brad Pitt.
I cannot just be on her side cos she’s a woman. He’s not Depp and she’s not Amber. This is something more complicated.
Pitt wasn’t accused of beating his ex and he doesn’t have a history of defending abusers; he hasn’t made questionable remarks about people of color/Jewish folks/women/LGBTQ community and he didn’t call Nancy Pelosi a c*nt. He also hasn’t been married five times.
But other than that, you’re right: they are completely the same.
Kitten
You said it yourself. We don’t know the details. And yes he was married five times. So? Elizabeth Taylor did it nine times, I think. I cannot judge someone based on how many times they sign a paper.
I believe that Oldman’s career is outstanding and he deserves more than one Oscar.
On another note, if they make movie about Bowie, Gary Oldman would be my first choice for his later years. He knew him well and they have some similarities.
Wait, so you can use the fact that she got custody taken away from her (without knowing the details) as a reason to mar her character but I can’t use the fact that he was married FIVE times to mar his? Sorry but whether you want to admit it or not, being married five times does not speak to someone being a good partner.
And I’m not judging him solely based on how many times he’s “signed a paper”, I’m also judging him on the problematic things he’s said in the past.
But really, you could have just left that part out of your comment and been honest: you like him as an actor so you choose not to believe anything bad about him, even the quotes that are directly attributed to him. It’s all good–we all have our favorites–but let’s own it.
Really, Oldman called Pelosi that? Wow, well, what else would a woman need to know? That’s that.
Kitten
It is clear that i love him as an actor. I don’t think he’s perfect in any other way. I do feel that he deserves that award cos he was always overlooked.
Can we leave it at that? I really don’t wanna argue with an actual person over an actor or Oscars.
Fair enough. I didn’t mean to start a back-and-forth but admittedly, the commenters on this site have really disappointed me in their support of this guy.
Anyway, back to Oscars talk…
@ Darla here are some gems for you:
“I just think political correctness is crap. That’s what I think about it. I think it’s like, take a f—— joke. Get over it.”
“Well, if I called Nancy Pelosi a c*nt–and I’ll go one better, a fucking useless c*nt–I can’t really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can, and nobody’s going to stop them from working because of it. Bill Maher could call someone a f*g and get away with it. He said to Seth MacFarlane this year, ‘I thought you were going to do the Oscars again. Instead they got a lesbian.’ He can say something like that. Is that more or less offensive than Alec Baldwin saying to someone in the street, ‘You f*g’? I don’t get it.”
“I don’t know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things. We’re all fucking hypocrites. That’s what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n–ger or that f*cking Jew? I’m being brutally honest here. It’s the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy. Or maybe I should strike that and say ‘the N word’ and ‘the F word,’ though there are two F words now.”
Poor bigot is so oppressed! He can’t call women the c-word and of course, EVERYONE uses the n-word, right?…… RIGHT?!?!
Another reason why he sucks as a person: he’s a so-called Libertarian yet he’s OPPOSED to marijuana legalization. WTF.
“It’s silly to me. I’m not for it. Drugs were never my bag. I mean, I tried it once and it wasn’t for me, though, unlike Bill Clinton, I did inhale. To me, the problem is driving. People in Colorado are driving high and getting DUIs. That’s what I worry about. Listen, if you want to do cocaine, heroin, smoke marijuana, that’s fine by me. It’s just that I worry about kids behind the wheel of a car more than anything.”
Dude reads too much Breitbart.
Yeah….sorry, Milla. We can get back to Oscars talk but I can’t let an Oldman thread go without posting these quotes, especially when so many here willfully forget them. If Jennifer Lawrence or any number of other celebs had said anything even CLOSE to as awful as this they would be forever cancelled.
Man, it is GOOD to be a white guy, huh?
Thanks Kitten, I had no idea. I really never thought about him at all, he’s not on my radar nor are his films I guess. That is really something. Well, now he won’t ever be on my radar because I couldn’t watch anything with him in after reading that list.
It is a window into our problems in this country and several others. Willfully ignore very poor character in a person because the person likes X about them. I don’t accept that anymore.
I think racism and abuse are dealbreakers.
People can twist and jump through hoops, but he’s not much better than 45. His explanations sound the same, and he is a conservative wingnut. I bet he ascribed to Nigel Farage and UKIP.
I don’t sling racist terms around so I can’t relate to him. *eye roll*
Did I miss something by not reading the full article? Where do you get that this person is racist?
Did you miss his dismissive attitude towards Daniel Kaluuya? If someone doesn’t get why Daniel Kaluuya’s performance was so good, then that indicates that person is racist.
Yep, that comment about Kaluuya spoke volumes to me. That movie was amazing and so was he.
Wait, if you don’t like Get Out you’re considered racist now? He only said that he didn’t got why everyone’s crazy about that movie, he didn’t disrespected the actor. Unless I missed something. Personally I kind of agree with his opinion, I prefer Mudbound over Get Out regarding a movie about African Americans social issues & there are also better horror movies than Get Out. I know there’s social commentary about white people vs black people in the film, but as I said I find there are more worthy movies that have touched the same subject. So, I still find both Get Out & Lady Bird, overrated.
Oh my God, are you really being serious with the Daniel Kaluuya comment?! This whole basis of thought is in fact racist. That because Daniel Kaluuya is a black man, he is somehow without imperfection and must be babied and praised and shielded from all criticism. That’s not equal rights, plain and simple.
Newsflash for you. Daniel Kaluuya, like all people, is more than just the colour of his skin and has benevolent qualities and flaws. He may have starred in a socially important film but his performance was quieter and more understated and maybe not as engaging for some people. Get Out would be my choice for Best Picture but even I felt the final act was a little rushed. Film performance is a subjective thing which is why I never understood people getting so up in arms about snubs or nominated actors not getting awards. You can appreciate a subject while being more engaged by something else.
Daniel Kaluuya seems like a cool guy and he’s a big boy. I’m sure his feelings won’t be hurt if not everyone likes his performance.
I didn’t get racism from the Oscar voter’s comment either. All he said was that he thought the film was overrated. He didn’t say ‘Daniel Kaluuya’ was overrated.
@Sèan Thank you. This has been bugging me this whole awards season and I agree on all points.
I agree with that (tactless) anon voter on the bit about CMBYN. Armie Hammer looks 35 at least, Chalamet like 15. I can’t root for the romance with these kinds of aesthetics at play.
I didn’t think Kaluuya was great. I think he was average and almost bad, and I thought Get Out was average.
I thought I, Tonya was excellent. And Sebastian Stan who plays Harding’s husband was great, as was Margot Robbie, and everybody. I think it was the best movie of the year, though I haven’t seen them all.
In my opinion movie like I, Tonya is harder to write and direct than Laby Bird, for example.
I agree, Merritt. The unconscious bias is off the charts, in my opinion. He dismisses Daniel’s performance as nothing, when he was the normie holding that entire unbelievable movie together, and yet, praises Defoe for being just a regular guy. Defoe’s performance was 3rd to the mom and kid in that movie, if you ask me. It’s telling that he uses nasty swear words to describe the mom character, which is a role she plays, but does not care at all about Gary Oldman being an actual wife-beater, as long as he’s a “transformative actor.” What does it matter if an actor playing a gay person is gay or straight? Does that mean if he’s gay and he plays a gay character that he’s no good? Do straight people ever get judged as lesser actors for playing straight people? This dude has more issues than National Geographic magazine.
With the exception of the distasteful phone ‘joke’ I agree with most of his assessments. Billboards was a caricature of an outsider view of “the south,” Shape of Water was glorious in it’s celebration of love and difference, I thought Oldman was brilliant as Churchill etc.
I am not sure why Woody Allen came up at this spot and I missed anything that sounded racist?
ETA: Dafoe gives me ALL the feels!!!!
I could be reading too much into this but “it’s only “topical” in that it deals with outsiders, not racism or sexism or anything else“ gave me pause…it reminded me a little bit of the “we don’t mind that you’re gay, we just don’t want it shoved in our face/we don’t mind if you protest, you just don’t need to be disrespectful” logic whenever something like Gus Kenworthy or the NFL comes up.
I could be misinterpreting that, but like you said, his Gary Oldman comment was tasteless and tone deaf, so that doesn’t encourage me to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t believe it’s in this post, but about the Best director category he says something like “Get Out was good but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
He said he doesn’t get Daniel Kaluuya, and that he doesn’t read as much into Get Out as others seem too. Which in some ways, I think, probably underscores Jordan Peele’s point.
Missouri is actually part of the Midwest. But your point stands because Midwesterners are mocked as much as southerners.
He describes himself at some point as a liberal male. Honestly while reading this, it crossed my mind once or twice if this might be Harvey
Harvey was chucked out of the academy last October. He can’t vote for anyone.
Yikes. At least this voter took the time to watch the films nominated, especially in the Foreign Film category.
The foreign film category is always the best category of all. It’s been a very long time since the main categories were as good as the foreign category.
And they’re usually overlooked by the Academy voters. It’s a pity. I watched the chilean film nominated, and it is FANTASTIC.
The films in the foreign category are hamstrung by 3 important issues which work in tandem to keep the category as small as it remains.
1. The filmmakers don’t truly understand that Oscars are about campaigning. They treat it as a prize winning occasion and don’t put in the effort required to push their way into the main categories.
2. They don’t have the money or connections required to campaign for the Oscars. Once they receive a nomination, the academy helps them out, but clearly it’s not enough to push through to the main categories.
3. Only one nomination is accepted by country. That means alot of sucking up to the country’s submission body by the filmmakers. Country’s choice of representative film might be hampered by their prejudices or wish to project a particular image. That leaves lots of other really good and sometimes great films from the academy selection process because they all came from the same country.
Point 3 can be subverted if the film makers figure out a way to correct points 1 and 2 because if a film has pushed it’s way into the main categories, then it doesn’t matter if it’s not submitted for the foreign category.
Regarding point 3: an argentine film almost no one saw in Argentina was chosen for contention for the Academy while other films (one can argue *better* films) were left out by INCAA (our film body), a fully politized and fraudulent institution.
That’s a frequent problem with these film selections.
I wish the academy would remove that criteria because so many films are left out of contention as a result.
And yet understand the academy’s decision in terms of trying to give rest of the world a fair chance at getting into the academy by restriction to only one entry per country.
Btw, i went through a period of loving Argentine films. I’m now going through a South Korean phase.
@LAK – I loved Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden and was thrilled to see that it won for Best Film not in the English Language this year at the BAFTAs. It played for one week at what passed for an art theater where I live in November 2016 and I saw it there. That theater is now under new ownership and plays the same movies as the other local theaters. It’s now very rare to have foreign language films in theaters other than Bollywood films because of the decent number of Indian and Pakistani Americans. In previous years, we might have gotten Germany’s In the Fade or Chile’s A Fantastic Woman in theaters for a week or two.
I was disappointed to see that it wasn’t nominated last year for best foreign film at the Oscars but apparently it wasn’t submitted by South Korea.
Kelly : Be still my beating heart. J’adore that movie. I saw it 5 times. 4 times in festivals and once at Bafta. It remains my favourite film of the past 18mths. I’ve been banging on about it since the first time i saw it, even here on CB.
I saw it advertised at an arthouse cinema in central London which killed me because that particular arthouse distributor doesn’t push their films. They are also known for truly arthouse as opposed to vaguely arthouse or mainstream in non-english language (that’s my personal category for films like THE HANDMAIDEN) which means those who seek them out are people only interested in arthouse and stay clear of anything mainstream. A very tiny minority indeed.
It pains me to think that with wider distribution, that film would have done as well as any regular film despite the language barrier.
This is why I love Netflix. I get to see many foreign films. We get a decent amount of them in Argentina. We have a lot of film festivals and a very strong cultural hub in which to enjoy foreign films, theatre, etc
I agree with this voter on Sally Hawkins. Her performance is the best of the year and she was great also in Maudie IMO
Oh, Maudie is a beautiful movie. Ethan Hawke is great in it, too.
Sally Hawkins is SO talented.
I’d like to see her asked about why she starred in two Woody Allen movies.
@cd3: I believe somewhere she stated that she regrets working with him. Also, were her films made before Dylan Farrow’s story became more public?
Darkest hour is a GREAT film. Don’t let your dislike of Oldman colour that. Jeez.
If we are going to ignore every movie or show that has an actor or actress of questionable morals…there will literally be nothing to watch
This!
Yeah, sure, I get that. But beating women is a non starter for me. A deal breaker.
Kitty…I totally agree. I admittedly seem to have a higher moral outrage trigger than some posters here. I will say that GO was phenomenal in Darkest Hour and if I were in a professional Oscar voting role, I could not possibly discount his performance on the basis of his personal life. I truly would vote for the best performance not the person who gives me human feel-goods.
I’ve only seen 3 of the best pics—Lady Bird, Post and darkest Hour—so I am certainly not in a position to say so and so should win over anyone. But yeah he was phenomenal. However I didn’t love the movie. Character development of everyone except Churchill was weak to me. I did like The Post and Lady Bird But would pick The Post over Lady Bird.
Racism isn’t a moral failing. It is being a garbage human being.
Kitten provides the quotes above.
There are actually plenty of good guys in Hollywood who also happen to be good actors. We actually DO have choices.
I just find it so incredibly fascinating how people pick and choose who to hate. The J Law thread from yesterday: 300 plus comments of outrage because she said Dems made a mistake by mocking the white working class.
I disagreed with her comment BTW, but it’s interesting the reaction she generated, juxtaposed against this POS who remains beloved because, great actor. What are we at, fifty-something comments, now? Perhaps that number would be higher if we didn’t have a J Law thread today..
I’m not telling anyone to boycott sh*t BTW–you gotta make the right decision for yourself, based on your own boundaries and moral barometer.
But I do find it so interesting to see how we excuse the actors (not so much the actresses) that we like for truly abhorrent behavior yet revel in slamming the ones we don’t like because they lied about graduating high school or because they wrote a mean song about another celebrity or because they cheated on their BF or any number of things that are ultimately inconsequential to us.
Ah well..all’s fair in love and gossip, right?
ETA: @ Mags. Exactly. Also, I saw some of your comments from yesterday’s thread while I was eating dinner last night. Well done, my friend–you handled those trolls nicely 🙂
Thank you kitten.
I agree with what you said.
I know I am guilty of defending someone I like or even don’t care about when there is a pile on. I seem to defend Brad Pitt a lot and I am not a huge fan or anything. lol
But there should be some things that are non-negotiable.
In the year of metoo they nominate a man like him?
I think we have to decide if the Oscars are awards for the best performances/works in the film industry in any given year, or awards for the people who have worked in films within the past year that we like the most. It’s not supposed to be a popularity contest. It’s not supposed to be “let’s honor those people in Hollywood who are good and kind and morally superior.” I would be all in favor of having a separate category or show to honor the wonderful human beings of the film industry. But the Oscars should be about the work. You can hate that a bad guy is getting recognized at the expense of a great guy, but if the bad guy actually had the better performance, then giving the award to someone else to spite him just takes away any reason to even have Academy Awards. It’s always at least a little subjective, but when personal traits start becoming as important as technical skill and ability to embody a character in the voting criteria, then the award, which is supposed to be for acting, loses all meaning. If you don’t want to support certain actors, then don’t see their films, don’t work with them. But don’t turn a professional award based on merit and skill into a watered-down, meaningless evening to play the moral police and decide who is and is not worthy of professional recognition based on criteria irrelevant to the work itself.
I love Willem Dafoe so much. He’s kind, talented and sexy.😍
He’s one of my faves too.
Yes, I’ve always liked him. I really hope he wins, cause he was great in The Florida Project.
Personally, I’m sure whether or not the Oldman allegations are true (cause the judge did end up siding with him, and gave him full custody which I just doubt a judge would do if he was as violent as the wife claimed) but these comments in general are jaw-dropping in how disgusting they are.
They simply don’t care if a person is a violent a-hole. Apparently being a “good actor” gives you the liberty to abuse people.
Judges have forced women to share custody with violent men in the past. Some of those men even murdered the kids to get even with the ex. I would not let the choice of the judge determine whether Oldman abused his wife or not. Judges are not infallible.
My aunt’s husband got full custody of my cousins after he for years beat them and raped my female cousin and forced my male cousin to rape his sister.
He also raped me a few times starting when I was 3 til I was 8.
So I know for a fact my aunt’s and cousins allegations were true.
You know why he got away with it? He was a LAPD detective and did investigative work for the LA district attorney.
Later it went back to court under a new judge, with the same results
Why? Because my uncle still worked for the LA district attorney and knew the new judge as well.
So not believing there was abuse because a judge gave custody to one parent over the other is crap.
I’m so sorry that happened to you and your family.
I am sorry too.
That is tragic. 🙁
@CairinaCat – my heart broke at reading your post. I don’t know you and we will never meet but you are an amazing woman to have survived all that. If there is a hell I really hope your “uncle” has a fully reserved seat for all eternity. Hugs xxx
Best wishes to you, Carinacat.
I hate to agree with this idiot but I have to agree that the visual age difference between Armie and Timothee was a bit jarring. I thought that was exactly why they were cast though. Still a beautiful and well acted film.
I hate that Gary Oldman is going to win for Darkest Hour. Gary should have been nommed or won for any or all of these films:
ROMEO IS BLEEDING
PRICK UP YOUR EARS
Dracula
Leon
ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
At least people are talking about the Florida Project. It deserves so much more though.
Also, while DDL is amazing in Phantom Thread, his co-star Vicky is also great and should have replaced Meryl for Best Actress. At least Lesley was nominated.
I know I,Tonya was not mentioned here but I saw that film the other day and thought it was horrible and tonally all over the place. No one should be getting anything from this film.
Add Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to the Oldman list. Damn.
Tinker should have been his win. Easily his best work.
He was nominated for this.
Immortal Beloved, for me. Gosh, it breaks my heart each time yet I can’t live without it. A beautiful, beautiful film. Oldman and Rosselini simply brilliant.
I hated the Darkest Hour too. Don’t understand what everyone is banging on about with Oldman as Churchill. Average acting, horrible man.
I thought the best things about Darkest Hour were Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James. I wanted just a film of their two characters sitting down to tea.
It’s like a reverse halo effect for anyone playing Churchill. It’s not THAT hard to play Churchill – he was extraordinarily articulate and had sharply recognizable mannerisms.
So true! That’s a great way of putting it
His performance seemed incredibly awkward and stilted to me. Also, the movie doesn’t grapple with Churchill’s despicable imperialist views at all, which is a huge missed opportunity to present a morally flawed man and add depth to the performance.
I have to agree. It was one of those Oscar bait acting jobs that annoys me. I didn’t like the movie. I didn’t like a lot of movies this year, so I am probably not watching. I will see the fashion, look for some clips, and I am fine. The ones I did like in these categories won’t win, so I have no reason to watch.
I hated Darkest Hour as well. Gary Oldman is overrated – as is Winston Churchill, who was a truly horrible, racist man.
But I can see why Oldman gravitated to that role…
He had me except for that Oldman comment, The Darkest Hour was SO boring and the cinematography was terrible. If he wins it’s because it’s a make-up for all the times he should’ve be nominated.
Well, he must not have cared about Casey Affleck either, so he is par for the course. Good job being consistent in your douchebaggery.
Another Get Out hater. Meanwhile DK is winning at life. He has his BAFTA, he will be alright without or without this fool’s voice.
I’m totally with him about Dunkirk. I was interested in the film, but about 30 minutes in, I had to turn it off because the constant Jaws-like bass notes and droning in the background were just making me batty.
I feel like if you saw the trailer for Dunkirk you pretty much saw the whole film…?
He didn’t even mention Get Out in his discussion of Best Picture? Or vote for it at all?
That’s harsh. And worrisome. I hope other voters don’t follow suite, given how Best Picture voting works. :/
The critics loved this movie. For all of you indie lovers out there, if you liked the Arnie Hammer movie, watch this gay love story that came out the same time. It is God’s Own Country. It has a similarity to Brokeback Mountain as far as place, a farm. But it’s not the same story. These guys aren’t ashamed of their orientation, but not living an out life either.. It’s more about an angry young man, who is so emotionally isolated, taking care of his dad’s farm in the north of England, because he is ill. A harsh father, steely grandmother. So all he does is get drunk one night a week, have some sex but feels nothing, and gets back up and works all day. Then someone comes to help out. The love story happens backwards. Sex first, with tenderness and love developing over time. He had no idea how to be soft or intimate. It is shot sometimes with not much dialogue, but it worked. Both actors were fantastic.
It was a really well-done debut film for the writer/director. It’s a little movie that I liked.
Here’s the trailer. We rented it on Amazon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3B3C2tGBQ
I agree with Kaiser that “Darkest Hour” was a terrible movie. I kept falling asleep. It was so boring. While I generally think Oldman is a great actor (not person), his acting felt so over the top. I simply didn’t get all the “hoopla” this movie is getting.
I agree with what they said about Brooklyn Prince. She definitely should’ve received a nomination. She was brilliant.
I also want to recommend Heroin(e) which is nominated for the Best Short Documentry award. It focuses on three amazing women who are doing their bit to tackle the opioid crisis in West Virginia, where the overdose rate is ten times higher than the national average. It’s on Netflix.
I completely agree.
I just watched The Florida Project last night and was mesmerized by Brooklyns performance!
The Darkest Hour is the worst sort of Oscar bait, lazy performance, that it’s been so lauded is mind-blowing. (Full disclosure: I also find Three Billboards to be awful, if well-acted, trash and Shape of Water was also not my jam, though that one I just felt “wasn’t more for me,” more than hating it like I did these other, two.)
Gary Oldman isn’t acting like Winston Churchill, he’s doing an imitation of him. It’s not a performance, it’s a Halloween costume. That the movie also totally distorts actual historical events, for no reason, AND is excruciatingly boring doesn’t help.
This movie, and it’s actors, shouldn’t be nominated for anything because it’s bad. Like, genuinely awful: pretentious, dull, historically inaccurate. And this is from someone who adores historical dramas, particularly British historicals, to a degree that makes me think if this isn’t for me, I’m not sure who it is for.
So, ahem, THAT’S why I think neither Oldman nor Darkest Hour should pick up any Oscars. But, yes, he also does sound like an awful individual unworthy of personal accolades.
This voter sounds like he really hates women. It goes beyond the sh*tty wife-beating joke-that-isn’t-a-joke. There’s just no need to talk about women in the terms and tone that he repeatedly uses. And my experience is that people who are sexist are often also at least a little bit racist — since hatred comes from personal insecurity and fear, it gets applied in varying degrees to all groups that are different from the person.
I straight-up can’t abide abusers and rapists. Sure, there are plenty of extremely talented people, who are also abusers and rapists (and murderers), who have made countless contributions to art and science and human culture over the millennia. There are also plenty of extremely talented decent human beings making contributions, and I think that maybe it’s time we start celebrating them a little more.
I still watch movies and shows with/by actors and directors who are known cretins because, unfortunately, there are a lot of them. But I’ve become far too cynical (I like to call it “realistic”) in my old(er) age. Being talented and working hard doesn’t make them good people. It doesn’t matter if they sometimes say the right things or go to rehab or give to charity or hug their kids in front of the cameras. There is no excusing away rape and abuse, and there is no talent great enough to make a rapist or abuser anything better than a sad failing of a human being. (And rapists and abusers don’t change, either — they just change their tactics.)
So no, I don’t think we should continue to award and celebrate these types of people, just because they’re talented. What incentive does humanity as a whole have to better itself, when we make it so clear that we don’t expect even the bare minimum of decency in human behavior from entertainers?
After all, O.J. Simpson is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
@Lady Medusa
I hear you, and I do have to choose what makes a performer someone I can’t take. Racism and abuse are two along with rape and assault. Any kind of sexual harassment.
Personal failings like drugs or having an affair don’t fall under that category, but then some are so gross (Sean Penn) that I don’t want to be bothered with them.
@MagnoliaRosa – Agree completely. Including about Sean Penn. Plus, I get the impression that he’s emotionally abusive and controlling in his relationships with women. He has a lot of anger.
I don’t care much about actors/artists having affairs, being alcoholics or addicts, etc. Those things hurt people, yes, but like you said, they’re very human failings and mistakes.
Reading my comment, I see I was a little unclear. I meant to say that I still do, unfortunately, consume media that features/includes people known to be rapists, abusers, etc. I just don’t think that society should celebrate these people (for their talent or otherwise) or that their industry should continue to shower awards and accolades on them. Maybe then, in time, there will be fewer and fewer such people getting big roles and opportunities.
But on a personal level, I’m done with a performer once they’ve been revealed as such. I’ll still watch “Baby Driver” because it’s awesome, and I’ll talk about Kevin Spacey’s character in the film, but I’m not going to talk about Spacey’s performance because he doesn’t deserve the breath required to do so.
i think movies are very subjective and there is nothing wrong with that. i think that shape of water will win best film or director
gary oldman will win best actor
and frances will win best actress.
if people like a movie then they like it – i think gary oldman is long overdue for his oscar and i hope he gets his at last
This movie WAS garbage, and I know this because my stepfather, he who is an old British fuddy-duddy crank, who watches EVERY WAR MOVIE ever made along with every History Channel war documentary ever made, hated this movie. Actually hated it. And he doesn’t get riled about much.