IntenseDebate - halfmadjesus

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 84th Academy Awards Op... · 1 reply · +13 points

At least Meryl Streep knew what the entire country was thinking about her when she won.

Insufferable - that's what the Oscars broadcast has become. A breezy three hours that felt like five, with no winners the actual, paying customers of these self-important a-holes give a damn about. I'm, like, moderately happy for Octavia Spencer, and that's about it. The rest is a giant sucking bowl of who cares.

14 years ago @ Big Journalism - Blaming Grassroots for... · 0 replies · +1 points

As an aside, it's always nice when your opposing, though innocuous, comments get deleted for moderation here. I guess an echo chamber feel is what Big Journalism must be going for, then. Pretty sad.

14 years ago @ Big Journalism - Shorter John Ziegler: ... · 0 replies · 0 points

I can see your point. Me, I think Ziegler is a guy who's pretty much unfiltered, and that sometimes comes across in childish and even self-destructive ways.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Spike Lee Blasts Media... · 0 replies · +3 points

Not that I can recall, although I may not have seen every single movie Spike Lee's ever made. Closest I can think of is Do the Right Thing, which doesn't glorify gangsters or gang violence, but could be interpreted as to advocate civil unrest.

Lee doesn't generally make movies about gangbangers and what-not - it isn't really what he's known for. While there has been the occasional gangster in Lee's films, they're usually portrayed as villains or fools - not someone to look up to.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Spike Lee Blasts Media... · 3 replies · +8 points

Not really, no. In fact, some films of Lee's like Jungle Fever for example, do a pretty good job of showing the downside of drug use. I can't image anyone wanting to smoke crack after seeing that. Clockers is another one I can think of off-hand that shows the dangers of gang life. He's also made films like Crooklyn, which show the positives of having at least one strong parent in the household.

Lee's comments aren't at odds with the kind of films he's made, in my opinion.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Marvel Studios Now Mak... · 0 replies · +15 points

Yeah, I've never quite gotten the hate for Iron Man 2 either. It's not as good as the first film, but considering its shortened production/release time, and the number of balls it had to juggle to keep the Marvel Film Universe up in the air, it's still a solid piece of entertainment. I very much liked what both Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell brought to their characters, ScarJo made a decent little subplot addition, Favreau expanded his own character to comedic effect, and Downey Jr. was as charming as always. The initial critics' reviews were also mostly positive. Somewhere along the way, though, online fanboy b*tching about this detail or that seems to have tainted the whole film to the point where most seem to dismiss it as a giant POS now, like the above reviewer. It's clearly not - I'd have killed for a comic book movie as good as Iron Man 2 back in the quality wasteland of the '80s.

I thought Captain America and Thor were pretty good, too. Thor, in particular, had to have been an extremely difficult character to adapt, so the fact that Marvel pulled it off at all says something. Heck, many predicted Thor was going to be a box office bomb, and it went on to be the biggest comic book movie of the summer - $450 million worldwide. Not too shabby for a B-list character.

Mr. Leeman is clearly off his meds, or something.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Oscar Nominations Anno... · 0 replies · +1 points

That's what The Departed winning was for.

94% on Rotten Tomatoes, so I'm not sure which reviews you've been reading. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Oscar Nominations Anno... · 0 replies · +2 points

I respect Malick, and I'm glad he seems to have found his filmmaking mojo again, but his recent films - while beautiful to look at - haven't really connected with me. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if he won for his overall career, and how admired he is by people in the industry.

I don't know if I see The Tree of Life winning top prize, though, so an award would have to split with Best Picture. Hugo or The Artist I could conceivably see winning Best Picture.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Oscar Nominations Anno... · 3 replies · +2 points

I'm actually pulling for Alexander Payne, just for a having an almost perfect track record of quality films under his belt. If it becomes a night for The Artist though, I could see Hazanavicius snagging it.

I also wouldn't rule Scorsese out. Hugo is probably more deserving than the Oscar he did win for The Departed.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Daily Call Sheet: Why ... · 1 reply · +3 points

Could be, then - it would fit if the Director's Workshop stuff happened after Tarantino wrote his initial screenplays that sold and after Keitel had come on board Reservoir Dogs himself, since QT credits him as the catalyst who got the film made. Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall reading somewhere once about Keitel bringing Tarantino and Bender to Sundance with him. That could have been '91. Obviously, Sundance at that time would have been a good place to hook up with Buscemi.

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