Date: 14-02-2007 01:23 Subject: The Oscar race - film reviews Post is: Public Feeling: optimistic Tags: films, oscars

Right, another film review post... the one I promised on Sunday. :P This time all the films are nominated for an Oscar in at least one category. They're sorted after the (main) categories they've been nominated for. :D Here goes...

*** My grades: 1 (Meh...), 2 (Okay.), 3 (Good.), 4 (Great!), 5 (Excellent!), - grade (film is incredibly bad / offensive / disgusting etc). ***


:: Best Picture ::
The Departed
I don't really know what to say about this film. The acting was great, especially Jack Nicholson. The others were very good too. I can't say I really liked it though. The story was interesting enough, but I'm really not a fan of mafia films. So in the second act of the film I was quite bored. Also, I'd seen the original, Infernal Affairs from 2002 (Mou gaan dou; Hong Kong) a while ago, and so this film didn't really impress me. First of all, why make a remake of a film that was made in 2002? I understand that it was in a foreign language, but people really should get over their fear of foreign films. It really doesn't hurt to read subtitles, and you might learn something new... Also, I liked the original ending better. I just think it added something more to the characters. So Scorsese's version really didn't impress me. There just didn't seem to be anything new added, or anything that I found special, except that the film was "translated" into "American" (the context). It makes me wonder why it was even nominated. The rest of the films I've seen so far have been much much better. I'm not saying it's a bad film or anything like that, it's just that for a film that was nominated for Best Picture, it was disappointing.
My grade: 2

The Queen
Ooh, a film about royals! :D I don't read gossip magazines, because the life of royalty bores me. Who cares that princess Victoria's best friend from highschool is getting married this summer? But I loved this film, probably because it was nothing like that. It was much more serious. Helen Mirren as the Queen was excellent! And Michael Sheen as Tony Blair was incredibly convincing. In some shots from the trailer I actually confused him for Tony! :D The story was interesting as well and I've learnt some things about royal traditions from it. :P I also really liked the way they didn't villify anybody and the way the Queen's dilemma was presented; should she follow tradition, what she thinks the people want, what the government wants, what the government says the people want, or what the media say the people want? All in all, it was incredibly interesting, and the acting was superb! :D
My grade: 4

Babel
I saw this film a couple of days ago and it really made an impression on me. It's a bit different from other films. The film has four different stories, about four families, four "losses", and it's in four (or even five) different languages. The stories are connected in small ways, and they're presented in bits and pieces. So some people might not like this type of story-telling. I thought it was wonderful though - really thought-provoking. The actors all did an incredible job too. I was surprised by Brad Pitt - I don't think I've ever seen him in a role like this, as an "old", tired and grieving man. And the children, who are often the weak-points in films, were excellent as well.
My grade: 4


:: Animated Feature Film ::
Monster House
It's been a while since I've liked an animated film this much! This film was wonderful! It has really cool animations. They are sort of 3D, and really different from other animations used in animated films lately. The film also has a really original story. And the voice acting was excellent as well. I really really loved this film. The only thing that I guess I should mention is that this film might not be appropriate for all children. The film is about a monster house, so there are a couple of scary moments in it. I'm not saying that I found it scary, just that some children might. :) I found it really refreshing though. It didn't feel as childish, so I enjoyed it a lot! I hope this one will win the Oscar for Animated Feature Film, because it definitely deserves it! :D
My grade: 4

Cars
This was another fun animated film. However, for those of you who don't like car races (like me), the first 10 minutes of the film will be boring. It gets much better after that though! Even though the film is about cars, it's a lot of fun. The story is probably a bit predictable: a big shot car from the big city comes to a small town and finds himself. So the story is not that gripping or original... But the animations are totally worth it! There were a few times when the picture looked as if it wasn't an animation at all, and it looked like real film. The world of the story was incredibly fun. The types of cars also fit completely with their personalities - I was laughing really hard at the car!Leno and car!Schwarzennegger. Also, the small details in this film make it hillarious. For example, there is tractor tipping instead of cow tipping and the insects in the film are VW Beatles. All of the small things like that were really well thought through in the film. Everything had something to do with cars! It's a really fun film! :D
My grade: 3+


:: Other Nominees ::
Poseidon
There was really nothing memorable about this film. There's a huge wave, a ship gets turned over, people die, a couple of them get rescued. Ooops, did I spoil the ending? I think not. Anybody'd be able to guess that from the beginning. What else could be good about this film then? The special effects? They didn't really impress me that much. I mean, I've seen Titanic, and the whole boat sinking and people dying effects just don't seem that special anymore. o_O Also, this film annoyed me because it was used as a platform to promote a singer's career. I'm talking about that Black Eyed Peas singer. Actually, her dying in the film was the film's highlight for me. :P So, the film was predictable and, therefore, boring. And frankly, other than the boat sinking, I don't even remember any of the characters in the film. Like I said, there was nothing original in it.
My grade: 1

Superman Returns
"Superman? So you fly out, and float up there in the air and listen to the sounds of people coming from the Earth to see if any of them need your help. You're looking at the whole planet there. I mean the whole planet. And you're listening, and the person you decide needs your help the most is a woman in a car with faulty breaks. Really? That's the most urgent thing you can find??? No mine fields, bombs exploding, hostage situations, floods, sunken ships, airplanes going down, gas leaks, etc etc etc. Faulty breaks???!! @_@ " Ahem, so that's the thing that really annoyed me about this film. I was expecting something new to be added to the new Superman film, for it to be updated somehow, like the Batman Begins film (which was great, by the way), but this film was the same old thing. Even some of the scenes were the same as in the previous films! I understand that a lot of fans of the Superman films probably see it as a homage to the old films, but I think it's a shame that there was nothing new, and that there was absolutely no depth to Superman. Also, the mystery from the beginning of the film is really no mystery at all, since it's so obvious that anybody can guess it. Oh, except Superman and all the other characters in the film. On the other hand, in order not to just whine about the film, the special effects were nice. And Kevin Spacey was great! I liked his portrayal of Lex Luthor much better than the old versions. So I won't say that the film was a complete waste of time. It was kind of fun to watch, I just wish they'd try adding to the older films and letting the characters "grow" a bit.
My grade: 2

The Devil Wears Prada
This film was quite okay in my opinion. The story was a bit predictable, but the ending was a bit different than I expected. The acting was good too. I think I should say, however, that for a comedy I didn't laugh a lot while watching this film. There weren't that many funny moments. Well, at least not as many as I had expected from watching the trailer. But otherwise the film was quite enjoyable. :) There was one thing that really bothered me though. Why do so many film makers dress a beautiful woman in ugly clothes, mess up her hair, and then call her ugly? Anne Hathaway is referred to as ugly and fat several times in this film, and she's neither! It was a bit ridiculous at times. But, anyway, the film was fun to watch. :)
My grade: 2+

Children of Men
I think this film is one of my favourites this year (or I should say last year). What I liked about it the most was the setting and the mood of the film. The film is set in the not too distant future, where the world as we know it doesn't exist anymore. The reason for this is that there are no more babies being born - women just cannot get pregnant anymore. And the reaction of people is that they give up completely. They just don't care for anything around them anymore, so the situation gets worse and worse. The thing that I liked the most about this dystopia is that there was no "monster"; no aliens, robots, machines, or industrial disasters are implied. People themselves are "the monster" that has caused the misery. So I understood this film as incredibly political, and weeks after I've seen it it's still making me think. :) The story itself and the acting is very good as well. And this film also has some incredible camera work. Look out for a really long "action" scene which looks like it was made in one shot - it was quite impressive.
My grade: 4+


Next time I'll review 4 (or more) films nominated for the Foreign Language Film (YAY!) and a few others. All Oscar films again. :D

PS: O_O I actually used the word "superb" in this post...

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