But tonight I saw The Aviator and I really disliked it. It's just so long and oh so boring and there's all of this weird, loving camera work devoted to the absolute lunacy of Howard Hughes: not looking at it in a weird, isn't-this-sick sort of way, but a fascinated, look-what-our-boy's-up-to-now kind of way. There are a couple of really nice sequences: the first flight in that silver aircraft with the flush rivets over the beet fields is really nice and emotionally intense, and quite literally every single scene with Cate Blanchett is fascinating (I can't wait to hear what she's going to say next), umm, and okay I can't really think of anything else I thought was stand-out. It's a studio picture without a heart, and I honestly thought Phantom of the Opera was more interesting.
Oops. I was going to try not to be mean but it got away from me.
So I was pretty confident about Million Dollar Baby winning that Best Picture Oscar and now I know I'm right. The Aviator hasn't a chance. It will probably get a Cinematography nomination, plus Sound, Visual Effects, Costumes, and Art Direction. Marty looks good for Best Director and Blanchett is definitely getting a Best Supporting Actress nomination (if not the trophy itself). That's seven and that's a lot. I don't think the pic has an original song, and the original score is extremely minimal (most of the important moments are set to Bach's Toccata in Fuge in D Minor--weird). It might also get a makeup nomination. So... Eight. Not bad, I guess.
I have to say: the CGI in the movie is not good CGI, and I say it's not good because it's obvious. When I'm watching something and thinking, wow, look at that completely fake image up there on my screen, I think that's a bad thing.
I kind of feel bad for Harvey Weinstein, although I guess I really shouldn't. It's only been 2 years since his last Best Picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment