Transcript
Speaker: know who the Oscars went to, but should they have gone there? Welcome to And the Oscars Should Have Gone To, a place where we discuss, debate, and decide certain Best Picture races from the Academy Awards, and then reveal who we think should have been awarded the Best Picture Oscar that year.
Speaker: Maybe our Best Picture pick was clearly the movie everybody loved that year. Maybe it was an influential work that filmmakers still discuss years later. Or maybe it's just the movie that everyone everyone re-watched the year after year As always, we recommend that you folks at home watch each nominee so you can make your own determination and then let us know how wrong we are. And with that, we thank the Academy. Let's start the show.
Speaker: Well, welcome back, loyal listeners. This is And the Oscar Should Have Gone To. i am Dylan in Los Angeles. With me is from Boston, Massachusetts.
Speaker: And Glenis in Los Angeles. So this year, 2001, the a nominees are Moulin Rouge, a musical drama directed by Baz Luhrmann that follows an English poet played by Ewan McGregor, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge Cabaret, actress and courtesan played by Nicole Kidman.
Speaker: The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, is a high fantasy directed by Peter Jackson based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, which is the first volume of the novel The Lord the Rings, and this film itself is the first installment of the Lord the Rings trilogy.
Speaker: In the Bedroom is a drama directed by Todd Field starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, and Marissa Tomei that centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Gosford Park is a satirical black comedy directed by Robert Altman that follows a party of wealthy Britons plus an American producer and their servants who gather for a shooting weekend in Gosford Park, an English country house.
Speaker: And the winner was A Beautiful Mind, which is a biopic about the mathematician John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, as directed by Ron Howard, which begins in Nash's days as a brilliant but asocial mathematics graduate student as he becomes liable to a larger conspiracy and begins to question his reality.
Speaker: So, Rob, yeah what did you think of In the Bedroom? Oh, In the Bedroom. Okay, we're starting there. I'm just throwing shit out there. All ah It's funny because I remember I saw this movie back in the day and then I saw it again for this podcast. And I liked it mildly both times. um You know, it's not it's not anything to write home about. But um I always thought the title was a little misleading. Like they were trying to call it like in the bedroom to maybe...
Speaker: think to get more people to see it maybe because of the title but then i listened a little bit more carefully and i always put the words on the screen when i receive these movies and they did very briefly describe that the bedroom is the part of a lobster trap which is a subplot of this movie where the lobsters crawl into it's like this extra room that has room for two lobsters that where the lobsters can fight and have arguments one can win and the other one can leave so right yeah so anyway oh it's like a cage match for lobsters exactly yeah so so that's kind of what the title was like then they're like oh it sounds a little risque too maybe we'll get more people to see it because of that we'll keep it who knows right who knows what they were thinking but that's what it came from uh this movie is an excellent um character study kind of movie um
Speaker: the the plot is a bit disturbing as it's meant to be. um's You can tell the plot. I mean, it's 25 years ago. It's 25 years ago. So the the plot is that they there this couple, Sissy Spacek and what's his name?
Speaker: Tom Wilkinson. Tom Wilkinson. Thank you. just left my head. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are an older couple who have a son named Frank. And Frank is this one from just finished college, is back at home and looking to start graduate school, but he's having, um they they call it an affair. He's not married, and but he has a relationship, let's just say, with Marissa Tomei's character, um who's recently divorced and has kids and is you know not on good terms with her ex-husband.
Speaker: Anyway, without getting too deeply into it, one thing leads to another and the ex-husband ends up having a physical confrontation with Frank and ends up killing Frank.
Speaker: And this just tears Tom Wilkinson and Sissy's basic characters apart and it's about how they deal with it. They both have different ways of dealing with it. um Wilkinson's character has is more of a, let's get it immersed in my work.
Speaker: Let's try to you know get my mind off of it and and and get back to work as a lobsterman and go for that. Whereas Sissy Spacek's character kind of retreats and and becomes a little bit um solitary and doesn't really feel like getting back into her work. So it's about how the the two of them deal with it.
Speaker: Um, you know, before the death scene, I think the movie went at a good pace. I think afterwards it tends to drag a little bit. little melodramatic, right? A little melodramatic, a little self-important, meaning that, uh, it's just, it's like, it wants it to sink into us. And it's like, kind of like, yeah, we get it. Like, you know, death is, is horrible. Let's, you know, we know how it would affect us. Let's kind of move a little faster.
Speaker: That was my, my feeling anyway. Um, I think with one small exception, I like how they didn't have flashbacks. Uh, kind of makes us miss Frank a little bit more. I think the way they did it, I think that's a positive thing.
Speaker: Um, a lot of times these movies have a character who dies and then in flashbacks, we kind of keep seeing the person. So it's like, right, we didn't really have a chance to kind like Tupac or something. We didn't have a chance to like really miss it.
Speaker: Um, but they, um, You know, they there's odd parts to this movie, too, which I really felt was little weird. They hung a newspaper clipping of the murder on the fridge, which kind of jumped out at me. Like, why would you have a newspaper clipping on the fridge of your son's murder? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: But it's really a story about a marriage. It's really about Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson's character and how they are dealing with the death of their son. And it's it's it's a very good character study. I think the dialogue is good, um not outstanding. There are some silences and awkwardness in the movie, which is you know supposed to be there.
Speaker: But I would slightly recommend it. um you know i don't know if it really should have been nominated considering some of the other movies that came out during this year. We were talking about that before the podcast started, but um slightly recommend it.
Speaker: Go see it. ah Tell us what you think on our on our email. Well, can I say, wait, I think, I think in the bedroom is supposed to have multiple meanings. So it is like the lobster trap, which, you know, first time I saw the movie, I didn't, I missed that part, but then a second time paying attention.
Speaker: but I think also it relates to one in the bedroom. It's, it's implied throughout that this is just a fling that Nick Stahl is, is fucking this hot divorcee and she's getting some young,
Speaker: Nick Stahl, who is Frank, the character. Sorry, the son Frank. Yeah, i'm sorry. Nobody knows who Nick Stahl is. in one way, no one's quite taking it seriously because it's just in the bedroom. They're just having this fun sex. So when the ex-husband comes up, and it becomes very serious.
Speaker: And I think also c Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, it's like you said, they are the what they are the two lobsters in the in the bedroom fighting it out in their own way. So I agree of you, Rob. I think there's probably a little titillation like, ooh, it's Marissa Tomei in the bedroom.
Speaker: But I think it's supposed to other meanings if you want to find them that a lot of it revolves around things that do take place in the bedroom. They're besotted with each other sexually that's in the bedroom which leads to him being murdered.
Speaker: And then the two characters really reveal themselves especially towards the end, Sissy Speck and Tom Wilkinson in the bedroom where they kind of let their feelings out. So I agree with you. I think the title is probably a little bit purposely misleading in one way, but i think it's supposed to express the different levels. So, yeah, exactly. They, they came up with a lobster trap, um, meaning and they're like, Ooh, we can use that to mean other things as well. Possibly.
Speaker: So let us, okay. um Yeah, I saw this a long time ago and then we rewatched it and I liked it both times. I like how Rob said, I slightly recommend it. night As in, if you didn't like it, don't blame me for recommending it. um But I think it's like, yeah, it it really is the definition of a quiet movie.
Speaker: And ah if you don't like quiet movies that are thoughtful character studies, like this will not be the movie for you. um it does drag in the second part of it after after frank the the son is murdered it's sort of like this long vague then the movie gets very long and really quiet and then has this interesting ending that doesn't feel like it belongs in this movie um so if you're looking for a twist or a surprise like
Speaker: yeah, maybe this isn't the movie for you. um And I just wanted to correct one thing that Tom Wilkinson's character, Frank's dad is a doctor, I believe, and not the lobsterman. comes from a family. Yes. he listen And that's what Frank is sort of, you know, and and Frank is sort of they're pretending it's not serious. His relationship with Marissa Tomei, but he seems to be falling in love. He's a young guy and he's kind of falling in love with her and she's falling in love with him. And he's pretending to his parents. It's not serious, but you're not really quite sure which way that's going.
Speaker: um But he's, he's even talking about like, I'm not going to go to graduate school. I just want to be out here catching lobsters. It was good enough for our family kind of thing. um and all that and ah ends up not mattering because because Frank is murdered.
Speaker: And, you know, there's a trial and then sort of a it's It's not a spoiler to say the murderer kind of gets off and and because of a ah mistake that Marissa Tomei's character has made.
Speaker: um And it's the parents sort of dealing with that. There's a great scene where Marissa Tomei kind of approaches Sissy Spacek to say, I'm really sorry. And you think, oh, this is going to be the moment of like, oh, it's okay.
Speaker: And Sissy Spacek just hauls off and slaps her across the face. and like yeah That's a really great moment in this movie. So there are a lot of really great, very realistic moments of like what it would be like to be in this situation.
Speaker: So that is also really good. But I do think this the second half does kind of drag a little bit and then wraps up with this very dynamic ending, which I won't give away at this moment because it is... I will.
Speaker: I had no, no, no, no. Try not to, because I was like, Oh my God, I forgot this happened. Like it was, um, it was shocking to me. Cause I totally forgotten every detail about this movie over the past 24 years.
Speaker: So it is not a movie that lives in your brain forever. Um, but I didn't think that that, uh, I didn't think that that ending made any sense for how the rest of the movie was.
Speaker: Um, but I don't know, maybe with the, the, uh, in the lobster reference, maybe it does make sense. I don't, I don't really know. So I think, yeah, it's all the performances are amazing. Like this is Sissy Spacek at her best.
Speaker: Tom wile Wilkinson is great. Um, I've never heard from Nick Stahl again before, or we've never heard from Nick Stahl since, but, um he He was okay in it. And Marissa Tomei is i a big fan of hers. um I think she's always great.
Speaker: So it's really performance driven. If you want to see a bunch of really amazing performances, this is the movie for you. But what did you think of it, Dylan?
Speaker: So I'm never going to watch again. i But only because it's you know it's fairly grim. um It's not like, oh man, I'm in the mood to watch In the Bedroom Thursday when I get home from work. But Yeah, no, the performances routes are outstanding.
Speaker: yeah They're all at their best. And I always say this, it's much I think it's much harder for someone to play a normal person than to play someone outlandish. without If you play someone outlandish or unrealistic, you kind of have license to do whatever you want.
Speaker: If you have to do a realistic portrayal, I think that's hard because you don't want to be yourself probably, but then you have to inhabit somebody else's mannerisms and tics. They're not showy performances. Like Malarisa Ote getting slapped ah other than the the actual murder was probably the most action in the film. It's very interior.
Speaker: And up until the end, they're all kind of dancing around topics and, and saying things, um, when they mean something else and leaving things unsaid. So, and that's Todd field. He did like little children. And I think, uh, I want say salt, I think.
Speaker: Uh, so, his his thing is like characters just living their lives nothing outlandish or fantastical which is why i agree at the end the kind of twist seemed very jarring where us is really this great character study about how you live with grief and it was like i was into it it's like no that that's cool it's almost like a bergman film that you could actually watch know it's just like characters in a small area going through their lives but and then it turned into a quentin tarantino movie with like a twist ending that well the ending what's this doing here It's not so much that it's unrealistic. People do things like that all the time.
Speaker: But for this movie, I just thought it kind of ruined the spell it was weaving. So it's like Rob. Like, I i i recommend it. The performances are are great. You forget how great Sissy Spacek is. Like, she's she's ah which she's wonderful, you know?
Speaker: And you forget... um You forget this time, Marissa Tomei was still known as the woman who should not have won the Oscar for My Cousin Vinny. And she started taking these challenging roles like, oh, shit, you're actually a good actress.
Speaker: OK. Yeah. So I think it's worth seeing if you're into performances. um But it's a very slow, deliberative movie. And your speed may vary on the end, which kind of kind of spoiled it for me.
Speaker: But um like Rob, I I slightly recommend it and I enjoyed it, but I'm never going to watch it again. It's like ah compare like the the performances of Tom Wilkinson and c Sissy Spacek to like Moulin Rouge's Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman.
Speaker: yeah I mean, they're like over the top, which is which is more worthy of an Oscar nomination. You know, know someone who plays a real character. I'm just kind of furthering your point here. Yeah. um You know, and and I just I just think Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson and Marissa Tomei were amazing in this movie.
Speaker: So now. Lennis, Gosford Park, what'd you think?
Speaker: This is probably the only other movie of Robert Altman's that I don't mind. i actually like one Robert... Wait, I like that. That I don't mind. i mean, they all suck, but this one, I don't mind. So I like one Robert Altman movie, which is The Player.
Speaker: And I think that's because I really like the source material. I i like the book and... But I saw this when it came out. I think I saw it on like New Year's Day or something like that, 2002.
Speaker: And at the time, thought it was just a pleasant distraction. I remember walking out and one of the other people I saw it with was like, oh God, what a piece of shit. And um I just was like, oh, I didn't think it was that, like I didn't think there was that much to hate about it. And she just hated it um So I don't remember having a bad reaction to it back then, but I was also like going, don't know, it was in a particular situation. I think it was a nice distraction for me at the time.
Speaker: um And years later, rewatching it, this is the first time I've seen it since then, realized, like, it's just okay. um it It's, I really didn't remember what was going on, and I was having a hard time following who was who and why it mattered and, you know, this English manners kind of ah thing that can be hard to follow.
Speaker: and uh you know they're all i't i don't even really understand i i can't even describe the plot like they're all gathering at a party and you know so it's a very upstairs downstairs kind of thing happening where um uh the upper class against the the the servant class down in the kitchen this is just a convoluted mess of a movie in my opinion i And Brian Phillippe's terrible performance. he He just, I mean, this is this to me is the movie that just says you should not be acting.
Speaker: And he really barely did ever again, um except for being in one of our least favorite movies, Crash, right? So... He is a ruiner of movies. Crash would have been great without him. Just kidding. That's not true um so So I don't... On a second watching, yeah i was like, oh yeah, this movie's not that good.
Speaker: ah There is a whodunit. You kind of got to get around to the twist of it. The only person I really enjoyed in it... Well, everybody's performances are fine. um The people you would expect to like.
Speaker: uh but other than that it just has this silly twist of a plot i think that it it's a lot of blah blah blah to get to oh this guy is this rich guy is a bad guy and here's why he's got to go kind of thing so i don't know i just i'm not going to dwell too long on this movie because it's just to me it's not that great i think if you're a robert altman fan have at it you're gonna love it but i don't know i don't know what robert altman fans think of this movie actually ah You know, Robert Altman fans are rabid.
Speaker: Like there's no in-between with Robert Altman fans. so You know what you do with rabid dogs, right? so Well, yeah, you don't watch their movies. um He's someone that has real contempt for humanity, and I sure do too.
Speaker: But he... he he He acts like all his characters are terrible. They're either stupid or manipulative. So he has a real contempt for for his characters. So it makes it very hard to root for them.
Speaker: In this movie, there's absolutely no one to root for it, which is how he wants it. I understand that. But it makes it more difficult. It makes it hard movie to watch. Well, it does. Someone got killed. like I don't care. The person got killed deserved it. And whoever killed them deserves to go to jail for it because you're all contemptible. like no There weren't any... like yeah, maybe the Kelly MacDonald character, but at the end, she learns to lie for her boss. So it's like, you can see like, well, you're going to be, you're going to be swept up in this too. You're going to be an awful person. So I, I leaving a aside, I don't think Altman's a good director or this, that and the other thing.
Speaker: It is kind of a movie that has no point. It doesn't really go anywhere. The whodunit just seemed to be an excuse to kind of, show how each person isn't kind of what they seem, but not in a mysterious way, more like, you know, they they put on certain faces because that's the English class system.
Speaker: So it's it's it's I just find it really dull and I don't care about the characters and someone gets murdered. It's like who cares? And in the end, it didn't seem to matter. And normally I would say the director is trying to say some things about class and and money.
Speaker: But I've seen of Robert Altman movies. His what he's trying to say is people are fools and look how foolish they are. And that's kind of that's the end of the story. So I know it got nominated cause Hollywood likes Robert Altman. That's why I got nominated. And it kind of stands in as the foreign movie because it's mostly British actors. It's looked like it was filmed in Britain, but I don't think it's a good movie. I can't recommend it all.
Speaker: Helen Mirren's wasted Clive Owens wasted. Uh, so I have nothing recommended, but don't What'd you think, Rob? Um, I agree with a lot of what you said. i probably liked it a little bit better than you two did. and i don't I didn't love it. i'm not I'm not going to sit here and rave about it. Don't worry. Wait, I have a question. are you Do you put yourself in the category Robert Altman fan?
Speaker: do you put yourself in the category of a robert altman fan i i'm not I'm not a rabid Robert Altman fan, no. okay Like Dylan said, his fans are rabid, and I wouldn't put myself... Not like the Coen brothers. You can recognize that some Robert Altman movies you like, some you don't like.
Speaker: Correct. that's right okay um you know This one was a mild like for me. Again, I'd mildly recommend it, if you can believe that. But I think the do the dialogue was...
Speaker: he needs to give me a settle down now rob yeah i know settle down settle down um the dialogue was the main character in this movie yeah that that's that's really what it was and unless you really love the dialogue you're not going to love this movie so i i tend to i being the second time that i saw it i tended to overlook all the things that that you two mentioned that you didn't like.
Speaker: So maybe that's one of the reasons why I liked it a little bit more was I could overlook all of that. The fact that you didn't care about who was killed. You didn't care why. did you care though? or No, i didn't, but I didn't, but that's Agatha Christie like, and you know, I don't think Agatha Christie and most of her movies and books didn't really bring up on a character. That's why the murder was,
Speaker: Never so serious. You never really thought about the consequence of like, oh my goodness, this person probably had like a wife and kids. How sad. Oh my God, what are they going to do for funeral arrangements? You you' never never think about that with an Agatha Christie kind of thing. And that was the Christie kind of like similarity in this movie. yeah and And that's really, you know, you don't want to think about death too much. And that's why they kind of did it the way they did it.
Speaker: um But I thought Kelly MacDonald was fantastic. I thought she stood out a lot in this movie and made up for a lot of the other, um, performances, to be honest with you.
Speaker: I mean, the murder came an hour and 20 minutes into the movie kind of says it all right there. How it's like, you know, like, let's get to it. Let's get to the, the, the point.
Speaker: Someone's obviously going to get murdered here. We all know that it's no surprise. I did not know that's what was going to happen. Yeah. Did you, did you, So it was Robert Altman. I just assumed I was going to talk all over each other for two hours. and Yeah, with no good resolution.
Speaker: I had no idea somebody was getting murdered and then somebody got murdered. And this is, you know, this is after watching it the first time 25 years ago. I obviously completely forgot that there was a murder. And then i was like, oh this is, that's more interesting. Why didn't you do that an hour ago? kind of Well, I think you just need to see the trailer and just kind of find out that it's a murder, like whodunit kind of movie.
Speaker: I didn't watch the trailer. Oh, okay. But there was there was a the the Donald Trump-like scene in it when the guy got shot in the ear. I thought that was kind of funny. It reminded me of that a little bit. That was funny. I'll give you that. Yeah. yeah um One of the things that Altman did that I liked, they shot it with two cameras, and it was just shot on everybody, and kind in Altman fashion.
Speaker: And the actors didn't really know that whether the camera was focused on them or not. So I think a lot of the times when they're off camera, sometimes actors tend to drop out of character. Not all of them, but this time it kind of forced everyone to be in character like every second, even with a long scene, a long shot, because there were only two cameras filming everybody and they didn't know whether it was focused on them or not. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, one thing. I like the soundtrack, Patrick Doyle. It was only composed in five weeks, I heard. I thought it was good for a movie that was so dependent upon dialogue. I'm so sorry. I totally forget what the music was. was it Was it vaguely classical? or was it Yeah, big vaguely. okay i just You know why you forgot, Dylan? Because this is a completely forgettable movie. Yeah.
Speaker: maybe. Fair enough. if For one guy who's like really into music, you know, that's you. I mean, I know Rob is too. So you tend to really like the, soundtrack or. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I just couldn't remember. I don't remember anything about it either. All right, go on. Interesting. Um, but, um, Yeah, I don't know. it was It was a movie that focused on character rather than plot.
Speaker: It's basically what it was and focused on on dialogue. and um So if you like your movies without a plot, folks, this is the movie for you. The plot was whodunit. You know what I mean? But you're going to wait a long time before you even want to know whodun what. Because like you said, an hour and 20 minutes in, there's a murder.
Speaker: By no means a great movie. By no means a great movie. It's just... uh you know i i don't see it but but if you do if you do watch it you should watch it yeah i know because you're talking you're like oh i was gonna say if you do watch it probably do need to put the subtitles on because i yes not follow the dialogue at all yes especially with some of the heavy accents it's so quiet you know it's so yeah it is what do they say who's that Well, that's another piece of garbage from Robert Altman. Anyways, Lord of the Rings.
Speaker: My goodness. Rob, what did you think of Lord the Rings? The Fellowship of the Ring. Yeah, see, this is this is a type of movie that's not really my john genre, so to speak. I'm already laughing. like i See, this is already...
Speaker: i don't know how like movie critics do it because you know the the the when you write for a newspaper or magazine because you've got to review all movies equally and you've got to go into it with an open mind and even if it's not your thing you've got to appreciate it for what it is um it's saying you know same with music same with movies same with anything of the arts um you know you just walk through a museum and you'll see things that are you're you know, right up your alley and things that are, you want to whiz right by. So with this kind of movie, it's just, it's unfair for, you know, me to give a really great review. It's just, it's just not a type of movie that I enjoy, but I can really appreciate it. Um,
Speaker: I appreciate the the direction, which I thought was was was you know very well done by Peter Jackson. and Everything he he's ever done that I've seen is is amazing.
Speaker: the Visually, it's it's stunning. The acting, yeah. i it's serviceable It serves the plot. It serves the plot. you don't want to stand out too much in these movies because that would take away from the plot. you know then Correct. And it's nothing it's funny because, again, like we always say this, we saw it back in the day and we see it again for this podcast. But um I remembered nothing from the first time I saw it to the second time I saw it Wow.
Speaker: It's just, it's a little too serious and self-important. You know what I mean? Like, let's let's think about that. Let's have a chuckle every now and then. Like, let's think about this plot. You know what I mean? And trying to find this, you know, that well, we have the ring and trying to form this fellowship and go on this journey and being, you know, this...
Speaker: There's all kinds of monsters and dragons. and There's room for madcap antics is what you're saying. That's what I was rooting for. If the Coen Brothers ever did this movie, I mean i would probably be one of my favorites. That would be awesome, actually.
Speaker: That would be awesome. There good parts to the soundtrack. I like the soundtrack. Again, always talk about that. um I don't like how they were...
Speaker: throwing names at us all the time kind of really got confusing when you just all these different names of different people and it's like who's who again it doesn't really help me that you're throwing names at us you really got to watch the movie over two or three nights I think unless you see it in the theater I did see it in the theater believe it or not the first time we all did didn't we yeah yeah it's almost like you had to yeah to required watching They cried watching, yeah. yeah But now now it's like you know watching it at home, it's like, I'll watch an hour and a half tonight and then an hour and a half tomorrow.
Speaker: If I don't finish, then I'll have a third night, but that kind of thing. yeah um But you know it kind of it furthers the theory that anyone who knows anything has to have long white hair and a beard. um just so to I don't know. it's it's it's i can but I can appreciate this movie. It's just not my thing.
Speaker: Well, you had a good point about the names. It's like there is Sauron, who is the evil kind of incorporeal spirit. Then Saruman, like, turned from white to black.
Speaker: So, oh, watch out for Sauron. you mean Sauron? Oh, yeah. Sorry. That's what I meant. Yeah, the names do get a little like it's Gimli and Jimli and Sneezy and Dopey. and Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah i got I still to this day can't keep separate in my mind Gandalf and Dumbledore. so ah yeah no they yeah They're both knowledgeable because they don't shave.
Speaker: right The knowledge is in the beard. no It's all in the beard. What did you think, Glennis? I don't really have much to add to what Rob said. i think I agree pretty much on all points. Like I would say that I'm a little bit more open with my genres where I don't have a specific genre that is or is not for me.
Speaker: If you make a great movie, um of any genre, I'm probably going to be taken with it. ah This really was just a big visual spectacle for way too long. And again, i remember seeing it in the theater and just remember thinking...
Speaker: Yep, lots to look at on the screen. But other than that, like i just it this movie just leaves me cold a little bit. It's just a lot of stuff to look at, but and that's kind of cool. But other than that, like you're right. it's It's really grim. They just managed to take all the fun out of...
Speaker: well or Or not put any fun in. There could have been some fun in there, I think. And I think the acting is all very corny and what you would expect.
Speaker: I will say that this is the movie that introduced us to Viggo Mortensen. And for that, I will be forever grateful. But, you know, more Viggo. But other than that, really, it's... I know people love it. I feel bad saying this, but I just...
Speaker: why On second watch, it's like, I'd rather have i'd rather Harry Potter have been nominated because those are more fun. i agree. Yeah. So i don't know i don't I don't really have a lot to add to to that.
Speaker: But what about you, Dylan? you know, I remember seeing it the first time, just being overwhelmed by the visuals, that I wasn't even paying attention to the story. And these movies never have good acting. As I said, that would take away from the story. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, there's some exceptions here and there, but most is like, well, we don't want you to stand out because it's an ensemble piece and the ensembles actually to serve the visuals and the story. So, yeah, I expect Viggo Mortensen to give it his all or anything. Although Ian McKellen got nominated for this, but he'd already been nominated. It was sort of like we we're going to pick one cast member to represent. So and he and he was he was really good in this.
Speaker: um I don't think it's a bad movie, actually. i think for what it is, it's that it's really good. Yeah. I don't think it's quite a child's movie the way Harry Potter is. It's probably, for lack of a better word, it's probably a YA type of movie where it's a little more complex than Harry Potter and it can definitely be scarier.
Speaker: I can imagine a seven-year-old being quite scared by some of the things the the Rings, but not like a 13-year-old or anything. But the message is very simplistic. It's good versus evil. Sometimes there's a little shading, but not really. um You know, the the the book is a trilogy, but for all that, they really stretched us out. They added plot points that aren't in the book in order to stretch these movies out to three hours each, which is unnecessary.
Speaker: And again, when I saw on the screen, I was just kind of overtaken by the visuals. It was so overwhelming. But I've seen a few times since always on the small screen. And we've talked about before. There are some movies like we talked about Passage to India, like, gosh, to see on the big screen makes you really think it's a great movie. When you see on the small screen, it's like it's still a good movie, but maybe it's not great.
Speaker: when When I watch lower the Rings on the small screen, i I just see how silly and kind of stupid it is.
Speaker: And that's, again, I think maybe if you're a teenager, like I like Star Wars, but when I've seen as a dog, like oh was this kind of a silly, stupid movie. But as a kid, I was besotted with it. So I think if you're a young person, you see Lord the Rings is like, oh, this is my cultural touchstone. But I would hope as one gets older, as I did with Star Wars, you recognize, geez, the acting's not that good or like yeah direction's OK. Like, no, the story's a little stupid.
Speaker: um i think I think everyone should see Lord the Rings. so It's such a huge movie that casts a large shadow. Yeah, I don't want to give the impression, too, we're talking about, that it was a bad movie or I thought it was a bad movie. I think it's worth seeing.
Speaker: It's more just like, eh. We appreciate it. It's a bit colder than I wanted it to. like I really want to come out of a movie like that feeling like, wow. You bring up a good point. I think it's really trying to have heart, but it doesn't.
Speaker: and i the The book doesn't have heart either, but the book's an elaborate fantasy and there's a lot going on. i don't necessarily think it needs to have heart or anything. But for what it is, there's probably there's probably no better example of this type of movie, of this type of fantasy spectacle. I mean, sorry, i think it's 2000 times better than Avatar, for example. You know, so for this type of movie, I think you don't get much better.
Speaker: So I think if you like these movies, this is this is just perfect. yeah Everyone should see it. It's it's a it's it's one of the most, you know, biggest movies of the 21st century. Very influential. But I don't think it's that good.
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Speaker: Moulin Rouge, let's go with Rob. All right. So this movie was even more bizarre than I remembered it. It was just, it's a musical. ah it's ah It's a love story.
Speaker: um you know, there's always a love story. It seems like in most movies. So this has to happen. um That's true. that The music, it took them, I guess, two and a half years to secure all of the rights to the songs in this movie. Yeah. There were just so many, and some of them were spoken word and you still have to like, you still have to secure the rights to the lyrics. um So that it just kind of shows you like how involved this movie was with the costumes and I mean, they must have made over a thousand costumes. It's just crazy. hear they made identical costumes for the stunt doubles, too.
Speaker: There were a lot of stunt doubles. There's a lot of singing, a lot of dancing. um it's you know At some point in the movie, you just need a breath to take a breath. it's I mean, they they they so they sing and kind of do whatever they want at times, especially at the beginning of the movie. It kind of focuses a little bit more as the movie goes on. But it's really kind of the only movie um that can combine like a Madonna song, like a material girl, like a Marilyn Monroe with diamonds, her girl's best friend. And
Speaker: Nirvana smelt like teen spirit in one medley. You know, it's just how do you pull that off? So I like how they cast actors who can sing rather than singers who can act.
Speaker: um I think the movie was a movie we just reviewed. Rickard, you know, it was more singers who were trying to act. I think this is a movie. I think you've got to be able to act if you can also sing as you know, they could in this movie. And that's great.
Speaker: um so you you just They kind of give away the ending of the movie at the beginning because Ewan McGregor is a writer writing this story about the Moulin Rouge who I guess is has now closed but this is back in the day when it was open ah back in the day when he had his love interest was still alive you find out right at the beginning that she she passes away and you know sure enough at the end of the movie they have a big scene where she passes away actually on stage um which was you know
Speaker: just very overdramatic. Everything about this movie was overdramatic and over the top. its so that That's what I thought about it. How about you guys? Hey, Rob, I'm not getting a sense of whether you like this movie or not. do you Did you like it?
Speaker: I like... i Oh, boy. 2001 is a weird year. um You know, it's ah it's kind of like you've got to lower your standards for the year. And then once your standards are lowered for the year, then I can say that I liked it.
Speaker: But I think if you had really reallyd had this movie in some of the other great years that were reviewed in other podcasts, I don't think I would recommend it against those movies. What you're saying is if you only had these five movies to watch in your entire year, then yes, you liked it. but Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It's entertaining. You're not going to be B-O-R-E-D during this movie. I can't say that word. But you're not going to. it's it'll keep your It'll keep your attention. It's just what half the time you'll be trying to figure out what's going on.
Speaker: But I think that's part of the the the point. Right. Yeah. So I would recommend it for a 2001 movie. How's that? Oh, think that's good. i think that's good um Yeah, I agree with you. it's i I find Baz Luhrmann exhausting watching his movies. It's just so much is going on that I'm like, i got ah it's enough. I need like a break. like We talked about this this in this podcast a few times, or I have. There's some movies where...
Speaker: it's the same exact pace throughout, which means if it's always, uh, if it's always high pace and frenetic, and if you don't give me a break, eventually I just start to tune it out where it's like, you know, if you drive a hundred miles an hour every day, you get used to and you don't think it's fast. You go, Oh, okay, whatever.
Speaker: That's what a lot of Baz Luhrmann movies are to me. Just it's constantly like it's at fever pitch. Everything's moving all the time. Everything's going on. It's, it's dramatic. It's like, I know it, but without a break that starts to even out.
Speaker: And it comes upon like something actually happens like, oh, yeah, I don't know. You've been high octane the whole movie. It doesn't I can't really react to this. So it's it's a musical. So, again, the acting is not there to overshadow the music.
Speaker: um So I don't expect great performances from Nicole Kidman or Ewan McGregor anything. And I don't think they gave great performances. Yeah. I do appreciate they used actual pop songs and not garbage like frozen.
Speaker: So it's like, Hey, Elton John, now there's a songwriter, you know what mean? Um, so i did appreciate that at least. Um,
Speaker: The direction is wonderful. It's sort of like talking about Lord of the Rings. I can't fault the technical mastery. I mean, he's he's building this very psychedelic world. it's it's It's very interesting. And every corner something's going on.
Speaker: um you know ah The plot is hackneyed, but that's OK. mean, you know every Shakespeare plot is hackneyed. So yeah, I mean, ah sort of like Lord of the Rings for what it is, which is a musical.
Speaker: great songs because you can't beat Elton John and Paul McCartney and I think there's like a police song and all that. The direction is is really interesting. I am exhausted by it, which means I get bored by it, but I can't say you know he's not i can't say he doesn't know what doing. he's He's creating this world exactly how he wants it and I think yeah he should be commended for that.
Speaker: um yeah And again, the plot is is no stupider than Romeo and Juliet. I mean, I have no problem with that stuff.
Speaker: But again, i i think it's a slight movie. And like you said, Rob, in another year, i don't i don't know if this would get nominated or not, but um this might be just the Boz Lerman nomination where it's like we got nominated for something that's a perfect you know meeting of all these different forces this year. But If you like musicals, honestly, check it out.
Speaker: um You know, it's it's fun. Again, I got bored by it, but that's again, it was just too much happening all the time. yeah if You know, if don't like musicals, you know, you're not going to like it. But um I recommend it with qualifications. If you're going to see one Baz Luhrmann movie, this is probably the most Baz Luhrmann-like.
Speaker: So this you'll get you'll get the full measure of the man by by watching this, and you can determine if you want to discover his other movies. This is the most Baz Luhrmann movie that he has ever made. so And with that, it's probably the only one I've kind of enjoyed, even slightly.
Speaker: So take that with what that's worth. But, Glenis, what did you think? This definitely was Baz at his Baziest. maybe Maybe they say Baz. Baz at his Baziest.
Speaker: But i I think how you feel about this movie really probably depends on how you feel about Baz Luhrmann as a director in general because it's very Baz Luhrmann. It's like ultra technicolor sets. He just does all real sets. There's not a lot of CGI or anything going on in this.
Speaker: um ah Based on based on just that you know n equals two of our household you have a really visceral reaction to this movie either maybe love it or hate it but i'm not sure now i i I thought that initially, but maybe now that as we're talking about it, we're, we're coming to the idea that it's not as, as bad as other movies may be from this.
Speaker: And then I think if you like musicals, then you have to decide if you like jukebox musicals or not. I think I realized if I'm going to watch a musical, I'd rather watch something like this where it's like, Oh, you're using a whole bunch of really great, um,
Speaker: songs and i thought that the sets were all really very beautiful and spectacular and ultimately i think the movie sets out what it means to do but did i i think i when i watched it the first time was like that was fine it was a fun movie that was okay i don't remember going oh my god i loved that and then 24 years later watch it again i'm like it's okay you know diminishing returns the more you watch it i think but i still think like there's ah a lot being accomplished in this movie which is baz lerman is recognizing his vision for what he wanted and he got it he did it so i think that that you know maybe points for that i actually disagree with you i think nicole kidman is doing a very good job with what she has been given in this fair enough
Speaker: She has to be really physical and she still has to be convincingly romantic and in love and sad. And I think, you know, I think she is a really good actor. So I think that she does a good actor. And, you know, Ewan McGregor, good for you for being there.
Speaker: that's about it. at the top of his talent. Good for you for being at the top his talent. he's oh yeah hitting the, you know...
Speaker: he's punching way above his weight, I guess. But um he did look like he was surprised that he could sing. And, i you know, I don't, it's fine. This movie is fine.
Speaker: It's very, but it's very bright and it's very red. That's what I remember about this movie. Yeah. And it's very interesting to look at. So, but but it i I was not, I'm going to use the word. Oh, no.
Speaker: I was, oh i was I was stimulated, maybe overstimulated, possibly. Yeah, it's hard not to be. yeah but Yeah, but it didn't ring false to me in any way. So, you know, I think of of all the movies so far that we talked about, it's like, probably hate this one the least.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's fine. I think I agree with pretty much everything the two of you said. All right, well, the winner that year, Not our winner necessarily, but the winner of that year was A Beautiful Mind.
Speaker: Rob, what did you think? A Beautiful Mind. Okay, so directed by Ron Howard. Yep. Opie Cunningham. um No. hey he um um So it's about John Nash, a mathematician who...
Speaker: didn't didn't like the title supposedly is the one having the beautiful mind but he had quite the mind um i don't know if it was beautiful or not i think that's the point of the movie but um it's based upon an article in vanity fair called the beautiful mind so they kind of kept it the same so there's using your imagination um nash um he You look upon him in ah at the beginning as you're supposed to because he's so genius that he writes on mathematical formulas and theories and proofs and theorems on on a window.
Speaker: yeah and Anyone who writes on a window you as a genius They know their stuff. Yeah, exactly. um So, yeah, he and he has this this roommate that's kind of an oddball, but then it bails him out of situations. And ah the plot gets ah more and more bizarre as he tries to decode things for the Pentagon.
Speaker: um And he is successful at it. and And it goes further and further that now he's trying to. escape from the Russians and the Russians are shooting at him and his life kind of spirals out of control. And it's not until roughly about halfway through the movie that we realized that three of these people, his college roommate and his boss and trying to escape the Russians and cut out magazine articles um and and his roommate's niece, the three of them are made up in his mind.
Speaker: he never really had a college roommate they contacted princeton and found out that he lived alone um and you know that was all embellished for the movie i guess the real john nash never saw people he just heard voices uh but you know hearing voices it doesn't make for a great hollywood movie the you've got to actually see them it's actually got to be visual so they took a little bit of a license with that um And of course, Ed Harris has got to be one of the made up people. I mean, we all have our Ed Harris over our right or left shoulder giving us advice.
Speaker: um That being said, i mean, it kept my interest the the whole way through. um You know, it's a 2001 movie for what it's worth.
Speaker: um It's there's not a lot of dull moments. You're you're really kind of dying to see what happens next. um Whether it satisfies you or not is really up to you, but you you tend to look forward to like what's happening next.
Speaker: um I don't think there was that anything necessarily beautiful about his mind. I just think he had a very complicated skin of private schizophrenic kind of mind. And his his proofs and theorems have won him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker: They had him give a speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, which I guess he didn't really do in real life either. um you know he struggles a bit at the beginning personally and professionally has trouble with with women and talking to them and and anyway for a 2001 movie i did like this movie i would recommend it i there's a lot of flaws and i'm sure you guys will talk about those but um it's it's it was it kept my attention and i'm glad i saw it twice and i think you should go see it well glennus what did you think
Speaker: I managed to not see this movie for 24 years and and can kind of see why now. um I really was expecting a very different movie, but i was expecting a heavier movie. And I i think I just didn't think much of the fact that Ron Howard directed it, but he managed just to get his Ron Howard whimsy all over it.
Speaker: Despite this being sort of a heavy, ah heavier theme, I think. um So I don't know. I, I think it's fine. It's a fine movie. If you want to know about John Nash, the person who I've never heard of before.
Speaker: I don't know. I'm really struggling to find anything. I think Russell Crowe is always good, but I don't even like Russell Crowe that much in this. I don't know. You know what? I didn't like this movie. I just thought it was like... You're going to talk yourself through that one. Yeah, I know. Well, it was like I'm dancing around it. What about compared to other Ron Howard movies like Apollo 13 or Splash? Yeah, I like that.
Speaker: yeah yeah i like that I don't know. Parenthood? Oh, wait. Parenthood. I like that. Okay. No, I'm just... No, I'm not... actually like... I enjoy Ron Howard. So, that I didn't really care for this was maybe that my expectations were very different over the years, but ah I don't know.
Speaker: I just... I don't know. I didn't i't love it. ah So, I just think... And why didn't I love it? I just think, again, this this whimsy part or the...
Speaker: you know, that we're being kind of led along like, Oh, is what he's seeing real or is what he's seeing made up? And then it turns out so much of what he's seeing is made up. Um, but then I was like, well, then is all of it made up? Is his wife made up? Is his, you know, so i thought that was not that deftly handled,
Speaker: I would say there's nothing horribly wrong with this movie. And if you like Ron Howard, you'll probably love this movie. But I just found that after waiting to see it for this many years, I was like, oh, this is what it's about. i i don't know. and Maybe my expectations were just too built up or something.
Speaker: I have a question for you. Did you like the fact that they waited until halfway through to reveal the three characters that were in his mind? Or do you think that should have been revealed from the beginning? I think that it's pretty easy once Ed Harris shows up to realize that this is a fantasy that he's having, or like a a a delusion that he's having.
Speaker: So yeah I don't... I think, yeah, no, I think if you'd revealed that the roommate was not real earlier, you would have... that probably I think that would have blunted the force of the revelation. yeah he's meant And also that was not unrealistic. Like, oh, he's a roommate that yeah he's out drinking a lot. So he's kind of you know, he's, but yeah, when Ed Harris comes, it's like, well, i don't think that stuff would be happening in real life. You know? Yeah. Right.
Speaker: I think that this person's real story is bit maybe more interesting that they took so much dramatic license with this that it's not it's it's sort of a broad sketch of this person's life, but not a very accurate one. so Which, of course, we've talked about before. You don't need perfect fidelity to tell a story. And sometimes you do need to embellish things. But sometimes some of the things I'm like, oh, why? Why did they have to do that?
Speaker: So I don't know. I just thought that the movie overall left me flat. And I was kind of like, oh, I wonder why this movie won that year. Like, who... who were rewarding. And obviously it's Ron Howard that they're rewarding. Finally. Uh, although again, I do think people like the movie, so it's not like it's a big mystery. I do think it was well received overall. It's just, I don't know.
Speaker: It's probably a movie I won't think much about ever again. I don't hate it or love it. It's like, Oh yeah, I guess I watched two hours. I don't know. I don't, it's like, right I can't get exercise about it. So well-meaning and nice, but, um,
Speaker: Yeah, I just, and I do generally like Ron Howard, but he is, he is like a McDonald's meal. you You're hungry and you eat it and you don't think about it but ever again. You don't go, man, that was good at the time. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Wow. That McDonald's meal in September was so good. You don't commit it to memory. Yeah. That's what Ron Howard movies are to me. Like, Oh, that they're quite entertaining. And then it's like, yeah, whatever. I don't want to see it again. I never think a beautiful mind. Um,
Speaker: Russell Crowe is great. That was when he was in this kind of five-year period. was like, wait, is this guy going to be the... Is this guy the best actor in Hollywood right now? He really was real. was on a roll. Yeah, was so good.
Speaker: And yeah, at least for me, once Ed Harris started coming, it's like, oh, okay, this this is where we're supposed to understand he's mentally ill. I think the other thing is I never heard of this guy before, and I've never heard his name mentioned since. Now, I'm not a mathematician, of course. Maybe...
Speaker: You know, they dedicate books to him every you know year at UCLA. But I don't know why I cared to begin with. And then I guess he gets the Nobel Peace Prize for an economic theory. Like, who cares?
Speaker: Because that's all made up voodoo. So i i didn't I didn't get a sense why I should care because I never heard of him. And then, don't know, he's a professor. Like, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: So I didn't hate the movie and I did not love it. it passed the time I've ever seen it the first time and saying, Oh, that's fine. And then we rewatched again. I've not really seen it since. And it's like, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker: Um, so I wouldn't say avoid it, but I wouldn't say go out and rent it. It's, uh, know, it's fine. If you never see it, your life, if you never see this, your cinematic knowledge is not decreased.
Speaker: Um, this adds nothing to cinema, but if you see it, yeah, you might like it. And that's cool. You know, Russell Crowe's always good. Ed Harris is good. Um, Jennifer Conley had a brief window where she was doing interesting things and this is part of it. So, you know, it it's, it's, it's fine, which to me in some ways is infuriating.
Speaker: Well, gee whiz, what a whiz bang year. So, uh, Galenis. Yeah, it was really hard to choose. uh,
Speaker: I'm giving it to Moulin Rouge. Really? All right. yeah Wow. My goodness. Get a relay from Rob. Yeah. Yeah. And and here's my reasoning.
Speaker: ah picking Moulin Rouge because I think that Baz Luhrmann accomplished what he set out to accomplish without any false notes, without any wrong steps, and I think that he did exactly what he wanted to do. And I was entertained.
Speaker: So I think that he did it without CGI, which is interesting. He did real sets. that was the word I was trying to think of. He did real sets. um The acting, I mean, the acting was fine.
Speaker: The music was fun. Like I was entertained. And i think in this year, that was all I could expect. Was I entertained? I was well enough. ah It is a little bit overstimulating, but I still think I'm gonna reward him for really, probably this is the top of his career, I think.
Speaker: So it was a tough year. um You know, i I went by process of elimination this year because, you know, you kind of have to. um Moulin Rouge was a little too over the top for me and just a little too weird. It's in my final two.
Speaker: um So by process of elimination, i'm going to go with, say that Hollywood got it right and go with The Beautiful Mind. All right. right. I just felt the beautiful mind kind of kept my interests the whole way. I wasn't exhausted by watching this movie. i didn't I wasn't thinking about, i almost felt weird watching Moulin Rouge. It made me gave me weird feelings inside just watching this movie.
Speaker: And I didn't get that from a beautiful mind. I just i felt that this was the closest thing to a good movie from another year. And I think in maybe some other years it might have gotten a nomination and not won.
Speaker: um So that's my feeling, and I'm going with a Beautiful Mind. All right. Yeah. Again, it's like you guys were saying. This is more a process of elimination than, oh, man, those two movies were are so good.
Speaker: Yeah, in a weak year, I'm picking Moulin Rouge. And Rob picking Beautiful Mind, I'm like, yeah, no, I can see that too. Whatever. If Glenys, you'd picked In the Bedroom, like, yeah, okay. And even if one of us had picked Lord of the Rings, like – well it's ah it's a towering achievement no matter what um so it's like sure wouldn't have disagreed really with any of those choices except for Gosford probably if you guys had picked Gosford Park like oh come on right I agree friendship's over yeah podcast is over but yeah any of those four honestly are as equally deserving um as as the one next to it so yeah picking Moulin Rouge but
Speaker: Yeah, beautiful mind. That's cool, too. Okay. All right. Well, next episode, um i believe, is 1971. Am I correct?
Speaker: You are correct. Not a bad year. So that is ah Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Picture Show, Fiddler on the Roof, ah Clockwick Orange, and the winner, The French Connection with the late, great Gene Hackman.
Speaker: Don't forget to send us your comments to the Oscars podcast at gmail.com. The Oscars with an S podcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: Send us your rants, your raves. Anyway, thanks for joining us. We'll see you next episode.
Speaker: you
