`Hurt Locker' earns best-picture Academy Award

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You or the generic audience found the D-Day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan "thrilling" but not harrowing? Both my Mom and I got both teary eyed as did a lot of WWII vets.

Supposedly Tarantino wanted to marry the Western bravado movies with the WWII genre. I liked the plot twists even though not historically accurate because I hate cookie cutter plotlines especially if they don't bring anything new to the genre.

Dave, is it possible to have a conversation with you about anything where you can leave out your personal dislikes?

I mean, seriously... are you that much of a total #######?

God help your wife - you must be a right ####### to live with

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

When Bigelow thanked the troops did anyone see the face of Barbra Streisand? I guess she's just another 'open minded' liberal.

[alienlovechild 75]

Dave, is it possible to have a conversation with you about anything where you can leave out your personal dislikes?

I mean, seriously... are you that much of a total #######?

God help your wife - you must be a right ####### to live with

No, Gene, you're the real inglourious basterd. Sorry my subjective opinion on a couple of movies can move you to throw my wife in for a cheap laugh. Is there anything eating you lately that should I know about?

Nevertheless, your characterization of Saving Private Ryan wasn't even close to being correct. I'd explain it to you but I don't want read another of your dozen posts about me rather than whatever the given topic at hand.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Dave, if you saw the Tarantino movie you would have seen the obvious contrast between the way in which the audience in the movie reacted to the on screen action versus the reaction of the soldier who was depicted in it (and actually lived the events). They were excited, he was visibly sickened.

Yes, I get that WW2 vets were affected by the Spielberg movie, that isn't in dispute - certainly not by me. But there is a big part of the moviegoing audience who don't view it that way and will see a movie like Saving Private Ryan for the purposes of entertainment - in much the same way as a person might see a James Bond movie or a any other generic action flick you can think of.

The point being that the act watching a movie puts the audience at a level of removal from the events depicted on the screen, however realistic, and you will often only take from a movie like that what you bring into the theater with you.

That's what Sam Peckinpah discovered - he presented the violence in his movies as realism, Tarantino presents it as theater. None of the characters in Inglourious Basterds is supposed to be anything more than parody, and its similarly no coincidence that the "Basterds" are more cartoonish than the Nazi colonel.

[sachinky 464]

Well, duh, it's not historically accurate. Ever heard of counter-factual history?

[Calypso 464]

I did watch the Academy Awards last night. I don't like war movies but finding that "The Hurt Locker" bagged a handful of awards has made me grow curious about it.

James Cameron lost the directing award to his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow. I asked my husband, "Well, who cares for an Oscar's trophy when you have all the money?"

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Kathryn Bigelow looks amazing for someone who is barely a year off her 60th birthday.

Cameron had a weird marital history - he was married Gale Anne Hurd before Bigelow, then copped off with Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies) for a couple of years before she decided she was actually a lesbian.

[Calypso 464]

Kathryn Bigelow looks amazing for someone who is barely a year off her 60th birthday.

Cameron had a weird marital history - he was married Gale Anne Hurd before Bigelow, then copped off with Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies) for a couple of years before she decided she was actually a lesbian.

Korek!

Cameron has always looked old, especially last night. He keeps getting married when he could always date different women each week without any trouble if he stays single. He makes it sound like divorce is very affordable.

And oh... I didn't know Gene Hunt has a showbiz inclination.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I've heard that Cameron is an ####### to work with, and there was a bit last night where he didn't look very happy with Ben Stiller in that Avatar getup.

[alienlovechild 75]

Dave, if you saw the Tarantino movie you would have seen the obvious contrast between the way in which the audience in the movie reacted to the on screen action versus the reaction of the soldier who was depicted in it (and actually lived the events). They were excited, he was visibly sickened.

Yes, I get that WW2 vets were affected by the Spielberg movie, that isn't in dispute - certainly not by me. But there is a big part of the moviegoing audience who don't view it that way and will see a movie like Saving Private Ryan for the purposes of entertainment - in much the same way as a person might see a James Bond movie or a any other generic action flick you can think of.

The point being that the act watching a movie puts the audience at a level of removal from the events depicted on the screen, however realistic, and you will often only take from a movie like that what you bring into the theater with you.

That's what Sam Peckinpah discovered - he presented the violence in his movies as realism, Tarantino presents it as theater. None of the characters in Inglourious Basterds is supposed to be anything more than parody, and its similarly no coincidence that the "Basterds" are more cartoonish than the Nazi colonel.

I fully understood how the German war hero's shooting at allied troops was Nazi propaganda that the soldier himself wasn't thrilled with his on screen depiction. I don't gauge everyone's reaction to Private Ryan but it was far from the nearly bloodless movies made during the actual war. In fact, Speilberg used the jarring camera movements to simulate the chaos of battle, executing POWs and watching a soldier slowly bayoneted. Some people may not see a distinction between soldiers in real war vs. Bond or Spiderman but then the movies aren't usually educational mostly for entertainment value. A lot of the audience doesn't come in with much to theater and doesn't take much home either unless the movie stuck with you or made you think.

Thanks for clarifying your views on the movies.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Check out the clip and when she accepts the award and thanks the servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan look at Barbara Striesand in the background. She looks like a vampire that just had a stake driven into her heart.

[scandal 951]

I didn't watch the Awards, but I'm glad to see that Christoph Waltz won for Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa. That was an amazing performance, and a great role.

I had low expectations for Basterds as Hollywood hype but Waltz was far interesting to watch than the Pitt character who had little screen time despite the misleading movie trailer.

I agree with you on this. I saw the movie on DVD months after it came out. I was dreading watching it, sure that I was going to hate it. I wound up loving it. I found it wickedly funny, tightly scripted, and intelligent. Tarantino at his best. My favorite scene was the vignette with Shosanna in the red dress lighting a cigarette silhouetted by the picture window frame, with the David Bowie "Cat People" soundtrack (Putting out fire with gasoline...). That was AWESOME. The Waltz scenes, particularly eating the strudel and coffee at the cafe with Shosanna, were excellent.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I fully understood how the German war hero's shooting at allied troops was Nazi propaganda that the soldier himself wasn't thrilled with his on screen depiction. I don't gauge everyone's reaction to Private Ryan but it was far from the nearly bloodless movies made during the actual war. In fact, Speilberg used the jarring camera movements to simulate the chaos of battle, executing POWs and watching a soldier slowly bayoneted. Some people may not see a distinction between soldiers in real war vs. Bond or Spiderman but then the movies aren't usually educational mostly for entertainment value. A lot of the audience doesn't come in with much to theater and doesn't take much home either unless the movie stuck with you or made you think.

Thanks for clarifying your views on the movies.

I don't think you can really argue that Spielberg's movie was any less a piece of entertainment than Bond or Spiderman - what you take out of the theatre depends a lot on what you take in; and whether, for instance, you are seeing the movie because you're actually interested in the subject matter or simply because its just something to do after the pub. Generally speaking, I rather think more people fall into the latter camp than the former.

Spielberg did use different camera techniques to draw the audience into what is happening on screen, but really it comes down to the difference between fiction as realism Vs. surrealism; and why for instance - Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five is regarded as one of, if not the, premier anti-war novels; and there's nothing "real" about it.

[Danno 1,228]

I suppose if you watch something in a theater it can add something to a movie..... as opposed to my small home screen but, I thought Hurt Locker was just ok.

It had a few good moments but not a top shelf movie in my book.