Blogging, with apologies to the gods of journalism, is not an exact science, and trying to blog the Academy Awards through the crystal ball of Read the full post.
Feb 5
2010
02:29 PM ET
Oscars: How a big win for 'The Hurt Locker' could change the Academy Awards
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A win for The Hurt Locker wouldn’t change anything. It would just prove the Academy just follows the herd mentality of the critics. I don’t think The Hurt Locker deserves to win the Best Picture award more than several of the other pictures in the category.
i think hurt locker should win cuz it will be a big impact on small bugdget moviesand women directors not just cuz it small budget. people forget that if hurtlocker win this it will be the first time a woman has won an oscar for best picture and director. so its bigger than u think cuz all the women who were nominated in the past has not won yet. so think about it people. and by the way avatar just a blockbuster can’t deny that and be realistic it was because of the technology and cuz no one seen anything like it thats why its getting all the buzz. not cuz of the story.cuz of the new technology it brings and how its differents from other movies like it just better visuals. i hope hurt locker win a woman needs to win once in the while. i think she did a wonderful job for someone who didn’t even won’t to direct it. peace im out.
“Avatar” was for me a lot more of a gratifying visual experience when Terrence Malick did it in 2005. And he used 65mm film with mostly natural light.
I’ll take Barry Ackroyd’s cinematography as a visual achievement in “The Hurt Locker” over “Avatar” any day.
The Hurt Locker was good, but it wasn’t better than Avatar (or District 9…or Star Trek), and it certainly wasn’t better than Up In The Air.
Amen! District 9 or Star Trek before Hurt Locker. Both are set in fictional environments, yet both are more believable than an EOD SGT firing at an enemy sniper multiple times and never repositioning – all while special forces personnel hunker over apparently too overcome with grief.
The Hurt Locker seems like one of those movies that’s too good for the Academy, like Sideways, LA Confidential, Raging Bull etc. For some reason they have an aversion to meterial that nears perfection, and usually pick the more flawed choice in a head to head battle like this one. So I expect Avatar to win undeservedly, though expect Hurt Locker to win for best Director, Editing, and Cinematography.
I’m glad Owen brought up the weighted balloting. I think it works in Hurt Locker’s advantage. My thinking is that..if Avatar isn’t your #1 it’s somewhere near the bottom of your list. While if Hurt Locker isn’t your #1, it could still easily be your #2 or #3.
I’ve been lurking here reading your fascinating read on the Academy Awards. I am 63 years old so I am sure my take on this year’s films might be different than most, but when I look at a film I look for script first, acting second, production values third, cinematography fourth and how long I think about the film after I leave the theater. I enjoyed Avatar and went back as soon as I could to look at the phenomenal graphics once more. I also went back to see Up in the Air for a second time. For whatever reason, both have now disappeared from my mind. Seven months The Hurt Locker, though, burns in my brain seven months after I saw it. So much so that I saw it again in the theater and once using On Demand. THL has the best script, the best acting, solid production values and excellent cinematography. Others who went with me were overcome by the tension that developed. I hope it wins the Oscar because it was the memorable movie and will be remembered for years by those who see it. Thirty years from now Avatar will be forgotten because the script was trite and the graphics can’t sustain a film because graphics keep improving by the minute. Avatar is no Star Wars. Why, because Star Wars has a better script, better acting, better production values, and better cinematography for its time. If Avatar wins, I won’t be surprised, I have seen over 50 Oscar shows and they get it right very seldom, but I keep watching. That’s the joy of the movies. BTW, look for a little movie made 60 years ago called The Sound of Fury. It never won a thing, but it still rivets my brain. Thank you for reading, I know I have gone on too long.
I am so sick of critics going crazy for The Hurt Locker. I like the film but now I think it’s truly overrated. If it wins more than three Oscars that will be too much, really!
And the script for The Hurt Locker is so overrated, too. Enough already with this film.
I agree 100%!!!
“This year I hope that Best Picture goes the best picture.” So do I.
Which is why Avatar should win.
Not at all, I so far have seen all the best pic. nom. and none of them left me with a bigger impression than the hurt locker sure avatar was a pretty good epic ride, but 99% of it was hype just the fact that james cameron had been incognito these past years surely made it more intersting but overall come one Avatar??? Eh…we need low budget indie movies like last years slum dog to be winning not epic films, thats what i want to see
Hurt Locker reminded me of Die Hard 2. Why you ask? Because I rank Die Hard 2 as the most technically inaccurate or should I say stupid film of recent history. Until Hurt Locker came along. It is the new king of unbelievability. Just check out some of the big review sites and you’ll see there is a small minority of former and current military that want this film to stop winning awards. It portrays a story the writer and director want you to believe is the truth when it is so far from it I could barely watch it. My wife laughed through half of it.
If you make a film like Avatar – sure, go crazy. It is fiction and we all know it. But if you make a film about reality, make it real.
I won’t repeat all the inaccuracies here. Just do some research on the net. Just suffice it to say – you will NEVER see an EOD or other soldiers act and do the things they did in the movie – from the big to the small.
My sis rented “Hurt Locker” recently and loved it. To my knowledge it NEVER played my region ANYWHERE, the desolate, intellectual wasteland that comprises much/MOST of East Texas unfortunately. Saw “Avatar,” admited the artistry, but am pulling for the compelling emotional intensity and acting merits, among other attributes, that comprise the worth of “The Hurt Locker.”
To be fair, virtually every VG movie to date has been about as bad as Godzilla’s Revenge- a movie that was mtlosy stock-footage, had a Home Alone -esque plot, and almost nothing to do with the actual Godzilla universe (though, to continue being fair, it DID have an awesome original monster in it named Gabara, probably based on the Japanese Oni).And we’re talking about such disasters as Super Mario Bros. , Silent Hill , and Doom . Every single one of these was terrible beyond redemption. Blasphemous as it may be, I’ll say it anyway: Even Jesus couldn’t save these films.BUT I have always watched them the way I watch any other movie- BECAUSE THEY’RE MOVIES. They aren’t video games that are all cutscenes and no gameplay. They’re movies. The genres are separate. People just don’t get this.And besides, you’re saying that the movie is good. So I’ll watch it when I can. Time’s a bit short for me these days.