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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:47 pm
by Damien
The King's Speech grossed $11.1 million this weekend, bringing its total up to $72.2 million. By Oscar night, it will have outgrossed The Social Network.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:54 pm
by ITALIANO
Big Magilla wrote:In fact, Fincher left the project before the final scene was completed, allowing Sorkin to direct the last bit, a throwaway scene in the Facebook offices, not the final scene in the film which had already been shot, but nevertheless an acknowledgment in however small a way that it was Sorkin's film, not his.
I didnt know this, but it's true that The Social Network is more a writer's movie than a director's movie - especially considering how personal Fincher has been on other projects.
I havent seen movies like 127 Hours, The Fighter or True Grit yet, but for example I'd say that Daniel Aronofsky's work on Black Swan at least doesnt look like made-for-tv material - for the moment, if we only consider American cinema, he'd be my pick.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:22 pm
by Big Magilla
ITALIANO wrote:It may be that The Social Network peaked too early. But it's not just that, I think. I'd say that it's more a case of a movie that the critics (American critics mostly, but not only) and a certain generation of filmgoers are led to admire and find meaningful, but that leaves others absolutely cold. The combination of fashionable director, fashionable and contemporary subject, and fashionably "smart" dialogue forced many to declare it a great movie, even those who should have known better (it's Big Magilla's number 1 movie of the year - this is the most evident proof of brainwashing).
I haven't been brainwashed. I like The Social Network well enough to consider it the year's best film, but only because everything else falls short. I do not consider it the year's best directed film. Danny Boyle and Christopher Nolan were more visionary, David O. Russell showed more heart and Ben Affleck showed the most growth of any relatively new director.
The Social Network is a writer's and an actors' showcase, not a director's. Fincher does well enough what he does, but he was a director for hire on this project - Aaron Sorkin was the controlling force. Not one word of dialogue was altered without his consent. In fact, Fincher left the project before the final scene was completed, allowing Sorkin to direct the last bit, a throwaway scene in the Facebook offices, not the final scene in the film which had already been shot, but nevertheless an acknowledgment in however small a way that it was Sorkin's film, not his.
Besides Fincher already won my award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button so I'm not upset he lost the DGA, it's just that he lost to an inferior choice. I would have been happy for Russell or Nolan if they had won, especially Nolan since he's not nominated by the Academy for his direction of Inception and a win by him would have no effect on the Oscars.
What we seem to be going through is a blurring of the arts. TV now produces more provocative entertainment than the movies and the movies are now giving major prizes to films that look like TV movies. It's not just The King's Speech, but several other of this year's awards contenders, from The Kids Are All Right to Rabbit Hole to Conviction, all look and sound like they could have been made for TV.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:58 am
by Big Magilla
Uri wrote:p.s. You're so right about the art direction here. Not only is it unappealing, it's also not very intelligently done – art deco wallpaper in a middle class apartment were supposed to be brand new back in '34, and not look as they've been hung there for 75 years, for God's sake.
That's it exactly. It looks old and moldy when it should look sparkling and new.
That and what Sabin say about the cinematography and what you both said about the screenplay. It's a phony film.
It's not that Hooper is a bad director. His Elizabeth I breathed with life all the way through. John Adams less so, but still it was well made. The King's Speech is nothing if not an actors' film and in that regard it succeeds - but only as bottom half filler for a top ten list in which there really aren't ten good films.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:57 am
by Reza
Sonic Youth wrote:Reza wrote:ITALIANO wrote:Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
I think the only award The Social Network is going to win is for editing. And watch it lose the screenplay Oscar to Winter's Bone.
You're underestimating. Before Oscar night, the Academy will rescind several of The Social Network's nominations.
In the meantime, The King's Speech will win 13 of its 12 nominations as well as The Nobel Peace Prize.
God bless The King's Speech.
Lol.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:23 am
by Okri
ITALIANO wrote:And by the way, even I didn't like The Social Network, but it's not like now The King's Speech is Battleship Potemkin or 8 and 1/2...
No, but if they're not gonna go for my favourites or films I would like to see as best picture winners, that they're giving us a race is all I could really hope for.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:02 am
by ITALIANO
And by the way, even I didn't like The Social Network, but it's not like now The King's Speech is Battleship Potemkin or 8 and 1/2...
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:01 am
by The Original BJ
UGH!
I second Italiano -- the tide against The Social Network has really turned seemingly instantly.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:57 am
by Sonic Youth
Reza wrote:ITALIANO wrote:Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
I think the only award The Social Network is going to win is for editing. And watch it lose the screenplay Oscar to Winter's Bone.
You're underestimating. Before Oscar night, the Academy will rescind several of The Social Network's nominations.
In the meantime, The King's Speech will win 13 of its 12 nominations as well as The Nobel Peace Prize.
God bless The King's Speech.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:53 am
by FilmFan720
Reza wrote:ITALIANO wrote:Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
I think the only award The Social Network is going to win is for editing. And watch it lose the screenplay Oscar to Winter's Bone.
Reza, The Social Network can't lose Adapted Screenplay. Aaron Sorkin is treated in almost god-like terms over here in America, and especially in Hollywood. It is the only award it can't lose.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:48 am
by ITALIANO
Reza wrote:ITALIANO wrote:Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
I think the only award The Social Network is going to win is for editing. And watch it lose the screenplay Oscar to Winter's Bone.
I've never seen a movie falling so quickly from front-runner to also-ran... I mean, I felt that the reputation of The Social Network wouldn't have lasted long, but this is really too fast. It's like the Egyptan revolution - suddenly The Social Network is the Mubarak of movies!
Now, seriously, it's not over yet and I think it will get at least two Oscars.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:30 am
by Reza
ITALIANO wrote:Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
I think the only award The Social Network is going to win is for editing. And watch it lose the screenplay Oscar to Winter's Bone.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:54 am
by ITALIANO
This has definitely been my Sunday morning shock. I could easily see the actors loving The King's Speech, but not the directors. As others have said, the Academy could still go with Fincher, but Best Picture is becoming more a one-way race than the two-ways one I expected.
Tom Hooper isnt a great director and The King's Speech isn't a very well directed movie - still I'm not unhappy. And I shouldn't be too surprised either - yesterday the reviews of The King's Speech came out here and they were - I'm not joking - enthusiastic. Many even saw in this movie an example of "good" political power that Italians should learn from (some were explicit enough to openly mention Silvio Berlusconi as the "bad" opposite of George VI). The audience I saw it with, as I already said, loved it. And The Social Network? Only one critic, in the most popular weekly show about movies on Italian tv, shyly admitted that he was still rooting for it for the Oscars; the others looked at him as if he was an extraterrestrial.
It may be that The Social Network peaked too early. But it's not just that, I think. I'd say that it's more a case of a movie that the critics (American critics mostly, but not only) and a certain generation of filmgoers are led to admire and find meaningful, but that leaves others absolutely cold. The combination of fashionable director, fashionable and contemporary subject, and fashionably "smart" dialogue forced many to declare it a great movie, even those who should have known better (it's Big Magilla's number 1 movie of the year - this is the most evident proof of brainwashing). And especially after reading the glowing reviews and the detailed analysises, one, like me, has every right to feel even more disappointed about that neverending collection of sit-com-level lines. No, the most important American movie since Schindler's List it isn't, this I'm sure of, and overselling something is always a mistake one sooner or later has to pay for.
And they are paying sooner than I thought. The Acting Branch - which is, after all, the widest in the Academy - started by ignoring Andrew Garfield, selecting in his place one actor from a movie which wouldn' t have been a Best Picture nominee under the old 5-slots rules (either John Hawkes or, less probably, Mark Ruffalo). This in itself wouldn't mean too much - but Garfield provided the human side of a movie that without him would have been completely frigid (again, the kind of movie that critics admire); this actor's absence from the nominations was more than just a supporting performance being overlooked - it was, and is, a clear signal.
And now, the DGA. Fincher is a better director than Hooper, I know. But is The Social Network a masterpiece of film direction? It's not - it goes smoothly and it doesn't have some of The King's Speech's mistakes, but let's face it, it's not Fincher's most impressive job ever.
Is The Social Network completely dead now? Unlike Sonic Youth, I did go through that depressing series of precursors where it seemed that the Facebook movie was this ultimate American work of art, and I can't ignore them or the fact that even the NBR (for which The King's Speech seemed like the perfect choice) picked it. And I can't see it getting only Best Adapted Screenplay (though that screenplay - irritating as it sounded to me - is its raison d'etre, and an especially showy one). But yes, Best Picture, while not completely lost, is certainly now an uphill struggle.
Edited By ITALIANO on 1296388841
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:33 am
by Uri
Yes, it seems there won't be another Jew oriented best picture this year. Their big mistake was that they didn't arrange for Zukerberg to have a holocaust survivor grandmother in the movie.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:12 am
by Reza
What pleasant news on a Sunday morning !!
I guess The Social Network now stands fucked.