The Oscars are over, and now we can finally prepare for the summer season. How angry were you about what films won? Did you bomb your Oscar poll because there was a tie? Well there's always next year. We highly recommend participating in the AMC Showcase next year to get a grasp on the best picture nominees. Of course the real challenge is watching all the films in a 24 hour period, but as we mentioned last week in our rundown, Javi had a half marathon to run on Oscar Sunday (which he kicked its ass), so we opted for the two day showcase.
Here are our thoughts from part one. And now onto part two!
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Javi: The second time watching this movie just reinforced even more why I didn't like it. The world, while it's wonderfully designed holds no interest for me. All I kept on thinking is how hilariously irresponsible the adults in the Bathtub were. I didn't notice this before, but there is way too much shaky camera action in this movie. Wallis is still the highlight of the movie for me with her performance, but again, I could not connect with the story or the world. I guess I'm dead inside or something.
Jonesy: I was hoping a second viewing would shed a little more perspective on the film and maybe the film would just click for me finally. Nope. I was able to really appreciate the aesthetic and set design of BEASTS, but I still don't understand the mad, mad love for this movie.
LIFE OF PI
Javi: The biggest surprise out of the nine for me. At a glance, I really didn't think I would dig it. A weird faith allegorical tale about a kid named Pi that is into all religions? No, thank you. But the heart of this movie is an especially beautiful one. The visuals are gorgeous, even if they look fake as all hell. If I had a big complaint it would be the use of so much CGI especially when it came to the tiger, Richard Parker. Ultimately, it's a movie that will reinforce your point of view of faith or religion no matter what your point of view is in a way that's very accepting, much like Pi himself.
Jonesy: It always happens that the film I was least looking forward to ended up surprising me the most with how much I enjoyed it. Seriously, I was shocked. I just kept hearing that this film was gorgeous, which is true, and that it was super religious, which is mostly true. However, the film ended up having so much heart. Suraj Sharma, as Pi, was fantastic and absolutely captivating. It was a real shame he didn't get an recognition from the Academy.
LINCOLN
Javi: The movie this time around showed its flaw in regards to the scenes where Lincoln's family are concerned. They are definitely the weakest part of the movie, especially with my boy, JGL. He could be taken out of the movie completely, and I would not care. All I want to see is more sweet DDL method acting, and white dudes doing their version of a rap battle but in a political way.
Jonesy: Of course this film is good. Would you expect anything less from a Spielberg epic starring Daniel Day Lewis? However, I wish Spielberg would have made two different Lincoln films. One focusing just on the politics of getting the 13th amendment passed, and another focusing on Lincoln's home life with his crazy wife. Both aspects didn't really work in one film. The family drama was the weaker aspect of the film and messed up the pacing. Also, we all need to resurrect the 19th century "put downs" by using scalawag more often in our daily jargon.
Jonesy: Of course this film is good. Would you expect anything less from a Spielberg epic starring Daniel Day Lewis? However, I wish Spielberg would have made two different Lincoln films. One focusing just on the politics of getting the 13th amendment passed, and another focusing on Lincoln's home life with his crazy wife. Both aspects didn't really work in one film. The family drama was the weaker aspect of the film and messed up the pacing. Also, we all need to resurrect the 19th century "put downs" by using scalawag more often in our daily jargon.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Javi: Why was this movie nominated? It was so much charming and Robert DeNiro stole the movie for me, but I don't see how it was nominated on any merit that doesn't have the Weinstein name attached to it. It'd be like GARDEN STATE getting nominated for anything but its soundtrack.
Jonesy: This was another film I was expecting to hate because of tall the unnecessary praise it has gotten over the past few months. I actually really enjoyed this film, but it shouldn't have been nominated for Best Picture. It's a solid character piece that gives Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper a chance to step outside of their comfort zone and portray something different than we're use to.
Jonesy: This film would have made my top ten if I had seen it last year. It's a tough task creating tension in which everyone knows the ending, but this film kept me engrossed. My cohort it out, but this film was more about ambition than capturing Bin Laden. Some complained about Chastain's character not really being a well written character; however, this script leaves a lot of gray area to be interpreted by the audience. There's enough there to read between the lines to interpret character decisions and the deeper themes of morality.
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