The Hurt Locker was the biggest winner of this year’s Oscar. My predication was wrong. The Hurt Locker did earn much attention and the critics swing to it as well lately in the award season. I’m not fully convinced though. Given that I watched the movie on the plane to China, I didn’t miss the inherent intensity. However, it is so focused on one man’s heroic actions without trying to investigate the complexity around it. It’s a small movie with a narrow intention. I bet the success is a surprise to its own film maker.
I think Avatar does not deserve it either. It has not much other than the stunning visual effects. I have to say, this is a weak year for the Best Pictures.
Avatar not only won the best picture of the Golden Globes, it has surpassed Titanic and is setting the new world-wide box-office record every day. Looks like it will conquer the Oscar as well. James Cameron will stand on the top of the world again.
It’s a spectacular movie to watch when you put the 3-D glasses on. It is first movie that truly delivers the photo-real computer graphic. The world of Pandora is stunning scene by scene. The interaction between the characters and the environments are so believable, and you don’t realized the their world only exists in the computer. Besides the technical supreme, the film is brilliantly directed. It’s tight, balanced and fills the two and half hours with ceaseless actions.
However, it is also lucky for Cameron that there is no other movie this year can really challenge him. Putting Avatar in recent 10-year’s competition, its advantage would be pretty much diminished. (although I never thought Crash as a good movie, the nominations of 2005 was not bad). In terms of novelty and creativity, The Matrix challenges the audience visually at the same level and physiologically more. You can also see many similarities of other movies in Avatar. For example, both Titanic and Avatar can be divided into the first half of perfect and romantic theme, and the second half of conflicting and action theme. The turning points are exactly same, the two main characters make love. More creative people even merged Avatar trailer into Pocahontas. Comparing them side by side, it is really a piece of work.
Hadn’t I known “Slumdog Millionaire” already won Critics Choice Awards, I would be very surprised when it got the Golden Globe as the best drama. It is a very good movie. I can relate it to myself with those rural kids and poor living conditions. But, I always thought the best drama should be awarded to films with the rich content and fresh views. Looking through the creative screenplay, the core of the movie is still a typical Bollywood story. Maybe telling a story that honest and loyal nobody gets the happy ending fulfills most people’s fantasy at a time of this global economic crisis.
Hadn’t I known “
