Have been waiting for this one and, unlike the outcome, it did not disappoint. Still remember then-colleague Carina Chocano's LAT review -- "113 minutes of vehicular metaphor slaughter" -- and Uncle Kenneth Turan likening the loss to a presidential election, where someone gives the consensus pick lip service in public, then goes the other way in the privacy of the voting booth. It's not just that "Crash" beat out the bona fide groundbreaking masterpiece, it beat out three other superior films ("Munich" is a bit of a mess, but it's a gripping mess, "Capote" is only weakened by its failure to add an "Answered Prayers"-era epilogue showing us what Truman became, and "good night...and good luck" is, on its own specific terms, perfect). If Groucho Marx correctly called Grace Kelly's win over Judy Garland the biggest robbery since Brinks, this one was the greatest inequity since Ford pardoning Nixon. As ever, youse twose are the berries. More, please, thank you.
Bassett was the main villain in one of the 3 or 4 endings of "Mr. & Mrs Smith". But I think she still had a line or two that got kept in. Was allegedly a messy production for oh so many reasons (Liman is notorious for chaotic productions and the Brangelina stuff was more or less at the peak with the paparazzi-era). Fun flick. But this was a bad year for movies.
"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" sadly overlooked. However! 2006 had loads of great flicks overlooked that would would have SLAYED in the year prior. "The Prestige", "Thank You for Smoking" and "(500) Days of Summer"... No competition.
I'm in the minority in that I LOVE Crash and think it it is one of the best Best Picture winners this century. All the criticisms of that the film is racist and that it is manipulative are off the mark. It is a bold film for being so explosive about race. But it is a human story about race relations rather than racism and doesn't give any easy answers. I think Joyce's criticism that the film doesn't call out racism, it would much easier if we call people out for being racist, thus clearing any blame for ourselves. The whole issue of racism cannot be reduced to just 'I'm not racist but these people over here are racist' and the film dares to explore (admittedly dramatic and less credible scenarios to make a point) the issue in a way which was very zeitgeist after 9/11 when there was a lot of hysteria around the issue (hence the Persian character). If we use Green Book as a comparison, Chris is right. That movie was Driving Miss Daisy mach 2 and an embarrassingly conservative, reductive, box-ticking exercise but bore no relation to reality at all. Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Good Night and Good Luck and Capote were all good movies but were all solid whereas Crash had the explosive factor and the originality that made it worthy as best picture winner. That's what I think. I'm not a millenial and don't feel like I need to check that my opinions are part of some box-ticking consensus. Crash was well-written, though-provoking, moving and it's still relevant today. I don't really see how much has changed on the subject 20 years later.
'Both sides-ism'? What the hell is that? What, Joyce, you think some people deserve to be hated and others don't? That's weird. No wonder you don't like Crash. You would like it better if Matt Dillon's character dies in a car crash in the movie and the whole audience cheers? Pathetic.
Crash was a worthy winner. Brokeback is great too but Crash is so powerful. Brokeback got held back by it being too restrained/subtle and homophobia sadly.
Ugh. Hate the Pride & Prejudice adaptation on principle. Joe Wright made so many cringe decisions. The hair and costumes were a bad call. Definitely shouldn't have been animals running through their house. The Bennet family were landlords. They weren't country bumpkins. It also felt like they just didn't want to sound like a copy of the miniseries, so they took some famous lines and paraphrased them to be different. The 1995 version is hands down superior.
The 2005 version is better, way more cinematic (with the best costumes of the year), your criticisms have nothing to do with the film, you're just saying the source material wasn't followed exactly, which is absolutely fine if works, and it did.
Brokeback mountain, one of the best films of all time! Losing to Crash is a crime personified
Word to infinity.
Have been waiting for this one and, unlike the outcome, it did not disappoint. Still remember then-colleague Carina Chocano's LAT review -- "113 minutes of vehicular metaphor slaughter" -- and Uncle Kenneth Turan likening the loss to a presidential election, where someone gives the consensus pick lip service in public, then goes the other way in the privacy of the voting booth. It's not just that "Crash" beat out the bona fide groundbreaking masterpiece, it beat out three other superior films ("Munich" is a bit of a mess, but it's a gripping mess, "Capote" is only weakened by its failure to add an "Answered Prayers"-era epilogue showing us what Truman became, and "good night...and good luck" is, on its own specific terms, perfect). If Groucho Marx correctly called Grace Kelly's win over Judy Garland the biggest robbery since Brinks, this one was the greatest inequity since Ford pardoning Nixon. As ever, youse twose are the berries. More, please, thank you.
A History of Violence definitely deserved more than just two nominations... maybe Cronenberg will get an Honorary Oscar someday...
That was my second favorite film of the year, next to Munic. Maria Bello and Viggo were both robbed.
Weisz wasn't a lock per se but she was a likely winner- if more people had seen Junebug, I feel like Adams could have upset Weisz.
Bassett was the main villain in one of the 3 or 4 endings of "Mr. & Mrs Smith". But I think she still had a line or two that got kept in. Was allegedly a messy production for oh so many reasons (Liman is notorious for chaotic productions and the Brangelina stuff was more or less at the peak with the paparazzi-era). Fun flick. But this was a bad year for movies.
"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" sadly overlooked. However! 2006 had loads of great flicks overlooked that would would have SLAYED in the year prior. "The Prestige", "Thank You for Smoking" and "(500) Days of Summer"... No competition.
Gong Li should have been nominated for Memoirs of a Geisha
I'm in the minority in that I LOVE Crash and think it it is one of the best Best Picture winners this century. All the criticisms of that the film is racist and that it is manipulative are off the mark. It is a bold film for being so explosive about race. But it is a human story about race relations rather than racism and doesn't give any easy answers. I think Joyce's criticism that the film doesn't call out racism, it would much easier if we call people out for being racist, thus clearing any blame for ourselves. The whole issue of racism cannot be reduced to just 'I'm not racist but these people over here are racist' and the film dares to explore (admittedly dramatic and less credible scenarios to make a point) the issue in a way which was very zeitgeist after 9/11 when there was a lot of hysteria around the issue (hence the Persian character).
If we use Green Book as a comparison, Chris is right. That movie was Driving Miss Daisy mach 2 and an embarrassingly conservative, reductive, box-ticking exercise but bore no relation to reality at all.
Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Good Night and Good Luck and Capote were all good movies but were all solid whereas Crash had the explosive factor and the originality that made it worthy as best picture winner. That's what I think. I'm not a millenial and don't feel like I need to check that my opinions are part of some box-ticking consensus. Crash was well-written, though-provoking, moving and it's still relevant today. I don't really see how much has changed on the subject 20 years later.
'Both sides-ism'? What the hell is that? What, Joyce, you think some people deserve to be hated and others don't? That's weird. No wonder you don't like Crash. You would like it better if Matt Dillon's character dies in a car crash in the movie and the whole audience cheers? Pathetic.
Crash was a worthy winner. Brokeback is great too but Crash is so powerful. Brokeback got held back by it being too restrained/subtle and homophobia sadly.
Ugh. Hate the Pride & Prejudice adaptation on principle. Joe Wright made so many cringe decisions. The hair and costumes were a bad call. Definitely shouldn't have been animals running through their house. The Bennet family were landlords. They weren't country bumpkins. It also felt like they just didn't want to sound like a copy of the miniseries, so they took some famous lines and paraphrased them to be different. The 1995 version is hands down superior.
The 2005 version is better, way more cinematic (with the best costumes of the year), your criticisms have nothing to do with the film, you're just saying the source material wasn't followed exactly, which is absolutely fine if works, and it did.
Jon is not an actor? This Playing By Heart erasure will not stand. 😉