The Movie Forums Podcast - 2015 Oscar Preview

[Yoda]

The Movie Forums Podcast - 2/3/15 (2015 Oscar Preview)
http://www.movieforums.com/podcasts/logos/podcastlogo.png

For the fourth year running (and a year to the day since last year's), Holden Pike and mark f. join me to analyze this year's Oscar nominations and offer up their thoughts and opinions on the nominees.

Shortest we've done yet (which isn't saying much, given how incredibly long these usually are), though at the expense of Best Score, which I forgot to bring up. D'oh. And for what I think is the third straight year Holden gets himself bleeped. It's fast becoming one of my favorite traditions.

The best way to listen is to subscribe with iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=306197266). The next best is to plug the podcast feed (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/movieforumspodcast) into your RSS reader. And if you absolutely must do it the old-fashioned way, here's an embedded MP3 player (and a plain old download link):

http://www.movieforums.com/podcasts/The_Movie_Forums_Podcast_-_Oscars_2015.mp3
The Movie Forums Podcast - 2015 Oscar Preview (http://www.movieforums.com/podcasts.php?podcastid=13)
As always, many thanks to Mark and Holden for their time.

Previous Podcasts:

2014 Oscar Preview with Holden Pike and mark f. (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=34713)
2013 Oscar Preview with Holden Pike and mark f. (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=31016)
2012 Oscar Preview with Holden Pike and mark f. (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=27698)

[Daniel M]

Just downloaded it, that'll keep me occupied for the next hour or so, awesome :up:

[rauldc14]

I'll download it and listen to it on my way to work Thursday night!

[mark f]

I listened to it already. You edited it pretty fast! Much of my crazy voice was left intact though. :cool::o

[Daniel M]

Some notes:

A bit unfair to have three guys who weren't overwhelmed by Boyhood :p I'm glad Mark mentioned how certain members loved it and were able to relate to it personally, I'm one of them.

Boyhood and Birdman are my two favourites that have been nominated for Best Picture, I wouldn't mind if either of them won, I think they're both incredibly ambitious films that work great.

I liked the open-endedness of Nightcrawler, and how the character isn't introduced properly either. The mysterious but easy identifiable personality from the off makes his character fascinating. I loved the ending and thought it fitted in with the dark comedy.

I'd rank the Best Picture nominees that I've seen like:



Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
American Sniper
Whiplash
The Imitation Game


Agree with Yoda's love for Ed Norton, and also Holden's love for Mark Ruffalo. Those were my two favourite supporting performances.

I liked Foxcatcher a lot more than other people seemed to this year.

[MovieGal]

hey Yoda, I agree with you.. Gyllenhaal is super annoying..... ugh!

[Yoda]

A bit unfair to have three guys who weren't overwhelmed by Boyhood :p
It wasn't deliberate! :) I didn't really know what either of them thought, and I myself only saw it a couple of days before we taped it. But it does seem worth pointing out that the people who loved it are generally young men who grew up around the same time/way Mason did, and like it because it reflects their lives.

That's a valid reason to like something, but it's not something that translates much to others. I wouldn't call my home movies great because they moved me, personally, for example. But at the same time nobody would begrudge me for being moved by them.

I think we summed it up pretty well, in that it's an incredible technical achievement, and that whether or not the Oscars should honor that (as opposed to something that exists as a more standalone work of art) is something people can reasonably disagree on, since there's no clear line between art and the method used to produce it.

I liked Foxcatcher a lot more than other people seemed to this year.
Same. I didn't love it, but a lot of people seemed to actively dislike it. Maybe it's just too off-putting (even though it's deliberately so).

[Yoda]

hey Yoda, I agree with you.. Gyllenhaal is super annoying..... ugh!
Oh, I like him plenty (especially with the films he's been making lately), I was just using him as an example of all the times we're asked not to notice that a ridiculously attractive person is playing Joe Schmoe. But he's really, really great in Nightcrawler. Dunno if he's great enough to change your mind about him, though. ;D

[Daniel M]

It wasn't deliberate! :) I didn't really know what either of them thought, and I myself only saw it a couple of days before we taped it. But it does seem worth pointing out that the people who loved it are generally young men who grew up around the same time/way Mason did, and like it because it reflects their lives.

That's a valid reason to like something, but it's not something that translates much to others. I wouldn't call my home movies great because they moved me, personally, for example. But at the same time nobody would begrudge me for being moved by them.

I still think that it's a movie that could be interesting for others, some may describe it as 'boring and slow' but I think that's harsh, it's entertaining, maybe not in the traditional way but it's also like when people call arthouse films such as Stalker, slow and boring. The people who love that film will find it as entertaining and exciting as something more conventional. What I like about the film is that it easily could have been full of clichés (bar a couple) and lead up to a dramatic ending, with a more non-realistic or 'exiting' plot to keep you gripped and wandering how it was going to end. Instead it was more natural and grounded, and it didn't matter how it ended, and in this it managed to capture the many day wonders of life, perhaps that we take for granted. Aside from the gimmick you have interesting and carefully written characters, great performances, and also an interesting look at the evolution of technology and the social expectations placed on people in their lives.

I think we summed it up pretty well, in that it's an incredible technical achievement, and that whether or not the Oscars should honor that (as opposed to something that exists as a more standalone work of art) is something people can reasonably disagree on, since there's no clear line between art and the method used to produce it.

It still could have been met with a much worse reception, and easily have been dismissed by the majority, but I think that the majority of people who have watch it do think it's more than just a gimmick. And if people are going to vote for it, hopefully they think it is to. I don't think you can distinguish between the two, and even if it wasn't made over 12 years, I still think I would honestly love it.

If the Academy didn't think it was all that great but still wanted to honor the work gone into it, then they'd probably give Linklater the direct award and something else Best Picture, there's plenty of other great films for that to not be totally shocking.

Same. I didn't love it, but a lot of people seemed to actively dislike it. Maybe it's just too off-putting (even though it's deliberately so).

I thought it was great. Yeah it's off-putting but that's the point. From the first minute I could fell the dark, unsettling style it was going for. From the moment that Carell's character shows up on screen, he is genuinely terrifying and there's an impending sense of doom from there on out, I'm not sure how else the story could have been told. I love the atmosphere and performances, and think it's an excellent character study.

A common complaint seems to be that the man is bigger than the film, it's impossible to reduce such a complex character to a traditional structured narrative, and I think this is a common problem. Films feel the need to go with something more normal in terms of storytelling (this happens massively in American Sniper) when it would be more interesting just to watch more realistic segments of a person's life without the need to rush or restrain this to fit in a certain time period.

However saying that, I thought it was a great examination of Du Pont, and I think it does a lot in showing us why he was insane, the problems that he suffered in terms of a want for admiration, to be a father figure, the pressure he faced from his mother and so on. I definitely 'got' this broken character and I could have watched two hours or more. The ending, however hard hitting it is, seemed abrupt, and I think they probably had problems making the transition in the third act from a moody, less focused character study, to an ending that wraps the narrative up nicely.

[TheUsualSuspect]

Let's get some more episodes in this year, eh guys?

[christine]

thanks for the podcast guys, enjoyed hearing you discuss the films. I specially liked hearing the love for Grand Budapest Hotel :)

[Iroquois]

Good listen, though this is the first of the Oscar podcasts I've actually listened to and had to get used to the different voices (Yoda is pretty distinctive thanks in no small part to the audio quality, but trying to differentiate between Mark and Holden took a while).

[nebbit]

As always great guys :yup:

[Fabulous]

I'm about to listen to it now, looking forward to it. :)

[Harry Lime]

Just finished and wanted to say thanks to the three of you for doing this again. I look forward to it every year. Great job as usual.

[Kaplan]

Good job, guys. Interesting discussion. I noticed Mark only missed one pick in last year's predictions, so had I been smart I would have just followed him. I will probably be wrong in every minor category. I thought it was funny how Holden and Mark seem to think if there's a split on director and film, that Birdman will get it for Best Movie and Boyhood for Director. It would seem to make more sense to me to split the other way, but if they're right those will be two more categories I picked wrong.