3. Letters from Iwo Jima: so although I think its a close call with The Departed, Iwo Jima has to get the number three spot. Probably the strongest part of this film was the story itself. Although we've all seen lots of war movies it was certainly unique to see a film from an "enemy" perspective. Many of the similarities in what soldiers were feeling and thinking for the Japanese makes for an interesting perspective with American soldiers' feelings as portrayed elsewhere.
Moreover, Clint Eastwood definitely deserves acclaim for his directing in this picture. Many individual scenes were really excellently done, most notably the arrival of American forces, the flashback scenes and reading the POW's letter from his mother. Finally, the acting was really excellent. Watanabe was probably the best I have seen him (and he was pretty excellent in Last Samurai) and deserves all the acclaim he is receiving. Some of the other not really well known actors playing regular soldiers were quite excellent as well. Finally, something true of all of the top 3 was that the soundtracks were absolutely fantastic and really enhanced the movie.
Holding this movie back from the one or two spot in my mind was the pace, and what sometimes wasn't shown. The movie dragged a bit in the middle. In addition, Eastwood's choices for what didn't appear on screen were strange. We never really saw a/the battle in any scale even though we were told tens of thousands of soldiers were involved over several days. The movie made it seem like it was 10-20 Japanese soldiers defending the island and the lack of scale and dramatic battle scenes (every movie could use some Saving Private Ryan thrown in) held the film back.
2. The Departed: a really really really excellent movie. It will be a real shame if Scorsese doesn't earn his first Oscar for this film. So, to mix it up, first the weakness: the end. I haven't seen the original Infernal Affairs so I can't speak comparatively of the ending, but this one certainly seemed over the top. Even though much of the movie was shooting and killing, there was just a bit too much in the last 5 minutes. The only other weakness of the movie is: it just wasn't as good as Little Miss Sunshine.
So the strengths of this movie are pretty much everything. Again, the soundtrack was really good. The directing was close to perfect. Transitions from the childhood scenes of Matt Damon to the present day were pretty flawless and drew you in right away. The screenplay was excellent. Some movies overdue the crime dialog but Departed does just enough of it that its interesting and catchy but not too much that it gets annoying. Next, the ridiculously superb acting. There were probably the best performances I've ever seen from DiCaprio, Wahlberg and Baldwin and more than above average from Damon and especially Nicholson. Wahlberg and Baldwin's smaller side characters did wonders to keep the movie going and draw us into additional characters. Finally, the story was really edgy and kept everyone interested for 2+ hours.
1. Little Miss Sunshine: the best picture of the year 2006. I've seen this movie three times now and its gotten arguably better each time (although it was pretty damn good the first time). So I'm going to skip over the weaknesses as I don't really know any. Again to quickly point out, the soundtrack was fantastic and makes you want to start a road trip of your own. The screenplay was maybe one of the best I've seen. The dialog never disappointed in wittiness, humor, and ingenuity. Coupled with what I'd say might be the best ensemble performance of a cast I've ever seen made the entire movie hilarious, clever, tragic (at times) and generally fantastic.
I wouldn't have thought it unreasonable for Kinnear, Breslin, Arkin, Carrell, Collette, and even Dano to receive nominations. I do think that not giving ones to Kinnear and Carrell is really ridiculous. Overall, this movie grabs all emotional appeals. The dysfunctionalness of the family is believable enough to be kinda tragic to watch but ridiculous enough to be hilarious. It's hard not to watch the whole movie without laughing hysterically or at minimum smiling throughout. Its pretty rare to find a movie that is both so well done and also so fun to watch.
That being said for all the movies, I'd be shocked if my #1 wins. Comedies have always been snubbed by the Academy (and arguably LMS is as well in terms of acting), and there's little reason to believe this year will be different. Assuming that the Departed wins instead, it won't be too ridiculous but if its the 3rd through 5th choices of mine, I'd really feel that the Academy has lost all credibility...again.
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4 comments:
Did the Academy really ever have any credibility to lose?
Having seen Infernal Affairs, I thought the original ending was almost perfect and would have liked to have seen Scorsese keep that part from the original. Not to give anything away, but in the original, everything was tied together much more neatly and with somewhat less shooting-in-the-head.
That said, I did enjoy The Departed immensely and agreed with virtually every other departure (pun intended?) Scorsese made from the film, which are two many (for obvious reasons, e.g. being set in Boston) to list here.
I'd be very surprised to see Little Miss Sunshine (which I was surprised to see nominated) or the Departed win the Best Picture award this year.
As you mentioned, the Academy tends to shun comedies. The Academy also tends to shun action flicks, and I think the Departed risks seeming too 'low-brow.' Although Gladiator did win recently, but that win had politics written all over it (Russell Crowe), and it was also more of an 'epic' than a straight up action flick.
I think The Departed has maybe an outside chance if the Academy decides to award Scorsese for all his years of excellent work without any recognition. But I wouldn't count on it - they snubbed the Aviator, which was a much more "Academy-friendly" feature.
I'd also be surprised to see Letters From Iwo Jima win, because Eastwood just won two years ago for Million Dollar Baby.
My money's on Babel to win. It's an ensemble piece, which the Academy likes. It addresses pseudo-political issues, which makes it seem important and 'deep,' but it shies away from anything controversial enough to upset anybody (sound familiar?). It's also set in a bunch of foreign places, which makes it seem like the Academy isn't all about Hollywood.
This isn't to say I thought Babel was the best film of the year. Although I haven't seen all the BP noms, I tend to agree with your rankings, and also with the general sentiment that a lot of deserving films were snubbed (Pan's Labrynth, Children of Men, and Thank You for Smoking all come to mind).
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