The Official Review Thread of 2008

Post by **anonymous1980** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:23 am

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Phyllis Somerville, Elias Koteas.
Dir: David Fincher

Although far from perfect, this film still overall deftly blends old-fashioned storytelling with director David Fincher's signature directorial prowess telling this tale of a bittersweet love story involving an ordinary man who physically ages backwards. I found Brad Pitt serviceable and fine at best but I felt it's really Cate Blanchett who shines.

Oscar Prospects: Will get noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and is a front-runner for Best Makeup, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. I'd nominate Blanchett ahead of Pitt.

Grade: B+

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Post by **Reza** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:50 am

--Damien wrote:
--Reza wrote:
--rain Bard wrote:Om Shanti Om has all the essential ingredients of Tropic Thunder but a lot more as well (it's about twice as long- though it hardly feels like it). A much more interesting film. Check it out.

Bollywood alert.

Yes guys do check this one out. Waaay better than Tropic Thunder.

Ummm, that's not saying a lot.

In relation to rain Bard's comment that Om Shanti Om has ''all the essential ingredients of Tropic Thunder''.

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Post by **Damien** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:12 am

Reza wrote:
rain Bard wrote:Om Shanti Om has all the essential ingredients of Tropic Thunder but a lot more as well (it's about twice as long- though it hardly feels like it). A much more interesting film. Check it out.

Bollywood alert.

Yes guys do check this one out. Waaay better than Tropic Thunder.

Ummm, that's not saying a lot.

Post by **Reza** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:56 pm

--rain Bard wrote:Om Shanti Om has all the essential ingredients of Tropic Thunder but a lot more as well (it's about twice as long- though it hardly feels like it). A much more interesting film. Check it out.

Bollywood alert.

Yes guys do check this one out. Waaay better than Tropic Thunder.

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Post by **rain Bard** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:17 pm

Om Shanti Om has all the essential ingredients of Tropic Thunder but a lot more as well (it's about twice as long- though it hardly feels like it). A much more interesting film. Check it out.

Post by **The Original BJ** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:23 pm

I think I'm basically with Mister Tee on this whole argument. We could go on forever debating whether Oscar-nominated Movie X is worse than Oscar-nominated Movie Y, but for me, something like Tropic Thunder -- crass, dumb, and simply not funny at all -- is on a completely different level from something like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I think is basically milquetoast Woody Allen, but operating on a lot more cylinders in terms of writing, acting, and even just basic purpose for being.

I'm sure I'm not the first to say this...but what exactly is fresh about Tropic Thunder? It recycles a whole bunch of the same making-fun-of-Hollywood jabs I've seen in a million movies about filmmaking.

But perhaps -- and forgive me, OscarGuy -- it's just that I don't get the appeal of parody as genre. For me, scenes like Stiller throwing up his arms to make fun of Platoon's most famous image aren't funny. It's simply, "I've seen Platoon. You've seen Platoon. Get it...we're referencing Platoon! Isn't that funny! Come on guys, it's Platoon!" I don't have a problem with films referencing other film texts if it has a point, but when it's just referencing for referencing's sake (like the Scary Movies), I just don't get why it's so funny.

And just to be a complete grouch...no man would present Best Actor at the Oscars, goddammit!

Sabin · Post by **Sabin** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:55 pm

To me, satire tends to make fun of something, but from an outsider's perspective.

This movie fucking loves these assholes. It's less satire than wish-fulfillment.

Tee, I certainly hold the movie and certainly Downey, Jr. in higher regard than you do though I don't like it. I find it impossible to believe that a worse movie this year could be nominated in any capacity than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Vicky Cristina Barecelona.

Post by **Mister Tee** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:46 pm

To Oscar Guy: You saw a different movie than I. Tropic Thunder was just a light-comic twist on the same old Hollywood shit -- about as critical of Hollywood as Howie Kurtz is of DC journalism. I don't find it even 1/10 as funny as Airplane. (And, by the way, any revisionist idea that Airplane should have been an Oscar contender in 1980 I also find ridiculous. Why can't people let pleasantly surprising hit movies rest in memory as just that? Why do they have to over-inflate them into award contenders)

Sabin, I just don't think Downey Jr. is so goddamn good that he needs to be made an exception to the no-nominations-for-junk rule. I was iffy on the Depp/Pirates nod, but there I thought at least it was an achievement so unique I could understand the argument -- and his movie was entertaining. I think Downey is mildly amusing in a terrible movie; how that spells Oscar nomination is well beyond me.

Besides, the debate to which I was responding was whether Tropic Thunder was a worse movie than all the other mediocrities or worse that people were citing. I'll stand by my original position on that -- which is certainly different from defending any of those earlier nomiantions.

Sabin · Post by **Sabin** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:31 pm

To me it's far more offensive for a film like that -- representative of the corruption at the heart of the studio model -- to be permitted entry into the Oscar dance, than films I simply haven't liked (like Seabiscuit, The Green Mile or Little Miss Sunshine).

I disagree. Outwardly bad movies like Tropic Thunder can have redeeming merits like Robert Doweny, Jr., but I don't think the latter three movies represent anything less disingenuous. They certainly all thought they were telling a good story beyond any hopes of Oscar-mongering, but they certainly didn't have the foresight to challenge or revise as needed to be. Of course, the Oscars are meaningless but we visit this board throughout the year for a reason. I would much rather see the good aspect of a terrible movie recognizes than a bad movie overall nominated as an entire entity. Robert Downey Jr. isn't in the middle of the Oscar ho-down. Fincher's movie is. Howard's movie is. Boyle's movie is.

Post by **OscarGuy** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:26 pm

But, see that's the brilliance of Tropic Thunder. The makers knew full well what they were doing when they parodied Hollywood's studio model. And to make that parody effective, they had to also embody it. They couldn't just make a movie aimed at making fun of Hollywood. It had to delve into the formula to successfully mock it. This isn't satire. It's parody. I think there's a huge difference.

To me, satire tends to make fun of something, but from an outsider's perspective. Even when it's made by those directors who have been a part and have done work in the system, it still feels like an outsider's glimpse of it. Parodies tend to embrace the industry and use it to their advantage, thereby becoming part of it while mocking it at the same time.

I can't imagine films like Airplane! having been made like The Player or Day and Night. It would have felt entirely too awkward and wouldn't have worked at all. What makes Airplane! and its type of film entertaining is how much they skewer the genre or the industry, not just with jokes, but also with structure and plotting. The jokes are thereby embellished.

Post by **Mister Tee** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:04 pm

--The Original BJ wrote:Oh dear god, I forgot I Am Sam. Well, maybe Tropic Thunder wouldn't be a runaway.

You know, to this day I haven't been able to force myself to watch I Am Sam no matter how many times it turns up free on TV. The only acting nominee in decades on which I've passed.

There's a cultural and perhaps age thing going on here with Tropic Thunder vis a vis some of the other films being bandied about as worse. There are lots of movies I haven't much liked that have yielded major acting nominations, but they were, for me, mere esthetic failures. Tropic Thunder was, for me, a failure from the conceptual level -- like so much of what's come out of Hollywood in the last quarter century, an oversized, lumbering, crude, big-money-making comedy that at heart isn't funny at all. To me it's far more offensive for a film like that -- representative of the corruption at the heart of the studio model -- to be permitted entry into the Oscar dance, than films I simply haven't liked (like Seabiscuit, The Green Mile or Little Miss Sunshine). At least those COULD have been good, with better talent involved. Tropic Thunder was something that aimed low and missed.

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Post by **flipp525** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:22 pm

--Eric wrote:Top 5 worst movies nominated in the top 6 Oscar categories in the 2000s that aren't Crash (bearing in mind I haven't subjected myself to the likes of Finding Neverland, Seabiscuit, Bridget Jones and others):

Bridget Jones' Diary is actually great. One of Zellweger's best performances (and clearly pre-anorexia and unquenchable thirst for lemons).

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Post by **The Original BJ** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:18 pm

Oh dear god, I forgot I Am Sam. Well, maybe Tropic Thunder wouldn't be a runaway.

Post by **Eric** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:12 pm

Top 5 worst movies nominated in the top 6 Oscar categories in the 2000s that aren't Crash (bearing in mind I haven't subjected myself to the likes of Finding Neverland, Seabiscuit, Bridget Jones and others):

01. Little Children
02. I Am Sam
03. Little Miss Sunshine
04. Ray
05. About Schmidt

Chocolat, In the Bedroom and Syriana all really damned close.

Post by **ITALIANO** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:24 pm

--The Original BJ wrote:If Robert Downey, Jr. gets an Oscar nod, I'll say it would be for the worst film to receive a major nomination in a LONG time.

Tropic Thunder is terrible, and any nomination it will get will be an embarassment for the Academy.

Still, it's not the absolute worst in recent memory. 2005's North Country was even worse.

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The Official Review Thread of 2008