Caveat: I have never seen Girls which may influence my opinion because someone told me that I wouldn’t like him if I’d watched Girls.
I also have not seen Marriage Story but I LOVE Driver in Star Wars. To me, his acting and the story made a villain compelling and generally I find villains somewhat one note especially in blockbusters (hi, Marvel).
Ok I saw Girls (I know, I know). I could not figure out if he was a truly terrible actor or if was effortlessly portraying a complete sociopath. I settled on the former. This is probably why I don't like him. Once you see that performance, you can't unsee it.
So. I LOVED Little Women. I wasn't sure we needed a... what is it, 9th? film/television adaptation of the novel. I saw the 1994 version in the theater with my mom and had it on VHS and love it to pieces. However, I think Gerwig's interpretation is a perfect example of film as it's own art form. She took the source material and was also inspired by a number of things, from Virginia Wolfe's A Room of One's Own to paintings by a variety of artists depicting the golden light of childhood. She cut and pieced together the story not in the traditional linear fashion, but in flash-back style, allowing her to further connect the themes she was most interested in depicting, mostly about the precarious nature of women's economic status and family.
@@@ That said, Gerwig wrapped filming when she was 6 months pregnant and submitted her first cut 2 days before giving birth. She then spent the summer caring for a newborn and finishing the editing. It didn't make it to the early film festivals (Toronto, etc) because it was still being finalized. I feel like there's a lot of feminist bullshit in that, especially since her partner, Noah Baumberg, made it to all the festivals with HIS movie (Marriage Story).
BUT ALSO. We all know most of the guilds, including the Academy, are still mostly white men (some specialities more than others). Supposedly, even though they receive screener DVDs to watch the films, many men don't want to watch Little Women, because it's a chick movie.
ERGO we have 11 nominations for Joker and no nomination for Gerwig. In a category that only one woman has ever won (for a film about traditionally masculine subject matter) and that has only nominated women a number of times I can physically count on my fingers. In 91 years.
I agree the Gerwig is great and I'm impressed with her timeline with this movie and her birth (and I agree about her H), and if anything she should have won for LadyBird. That was AMAZING!
But I disagree about Little Women being worthy of this. I left the theater thinking it was pretty unforgettable and was disappointed by how unemotionally connected I felt to Jo (Saoirse Ronan). Especially compared to some of the other films that are nominated. I love the book and the other adaptations, but I felt like I didn't believe Jo's love story with the Frenchman at all, and and the diving around from past to present was clever, but didn't add anything special or unique that I didn't feel with other adaptations.
I also disliked the Joker, and can't believe it got so many nomincations. I disliked it for very different reasons. It was NOT unforgettable at all, and the visuals were phenomenal, but the story was a trope and the dialogue boring at best. It also didn't need to introduce the Waynes at all - that added nothing and they could have been villains to Joker even without ever showing up in the movie. It was a movie that never needed to be made, but I loved the Brooklyn backdrop and the weird dancing... the music was terrible, though.
I haven't seen Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, or 1917, but I do agree that Jojo Rabbit, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Parasite, and Marriage Story were more compelling than Little Women and Joker as Oscar movies for me.
um also I think the wrong song from Frozen 2 was nominated, should have been Show Yourself. I cry EVERY TIME I listen to that song. Into the Unknown is great too but Show Yourself is the showstopper.
I agree that Show Yourself is better, but I think all the music and all of Frozen 2 was pretty bad - not Oscar worthy. The funniest song was Kristoff's Lost in the Woods... that hilarious Air-Supply-esque song was the best part of the whole movie. (Ducks as she says this... it was just so boring and predictable and the whole reparations by giving back their land things was weird to me and there were still no repercussions for Arrendelle)
Am I the only one who doesn't get Adam Driver? I haven't seen Marriage Story but I've never really understood him or thought he was all that. Did he deliver something he's never come close to approximating or am I just a hater?
I love Adam Driver.
I hated Marriage Story. So it's not necessarily an Adam Driver thing. I just wouldn't recommend the movie, and I'm glad I could watch it on Netflix and not waste a trip to the theater for it.
He was great in BlackkKlansman. I agree that he chooses interesting projects. I think he takes his work seriously. He seems like someone I would want to know. His background is pretty interesting.
I feel like English/Welsh actors seem to do a much better job at a generic American accent than American actors do at English accents. I think because English accents are so distinctive from region to region in a close proximity. It really impressed me.
Eh, I'm not 100% on that. I clocked every single UK actor doing an American accent on Downton Abbey within like 2 sentences. Which is why Matthew Rhys so impresses me. Also, the redheaded guy who played Captain Winter and in Homeland. He's good, too.
I can usually pick that up pretty quickly too, actually. They usually end up sounding somewhat Canadian - it has to do with how their mouths do vowels and cadence.
While I have absolutely no desire to ever see it, the woman who scored it is incredible. She also scored Chernobyl.
That is a bummer. The score was not fun or innovative... it felt like a cartoon and was often distracting, not in a good way. I'm guessing it's the clown/weird aspect that the director wanted. I haven't seen Chernobyl - I'll have to check that out.
From what I've heard it's not really horror in the traditional sense. More like in the Get Out sense.
...Which I've been afraid to watch too even though I really want to.
I HATE horror films, but I knew I needed to see Get Out. It helped to read EVERY SINGLE SPOILER imaginable and every plot line, etc. I was then 100% prepared and did not find it scary at all, but more psychologically scary. For sure there are SVU episodes scarier than Get Out.
I am glad to hear that if I did not think Get Out was scary that I would be ok with Parasite. The previews made me scared a bit, but I could probably do it knowing it is a similar kind of "scary" that Get Out was.
Am I the only one who doesn't get Adam Driver? I haven't seen Marriage Story but I've never really understood him or thought he was all that. Did he deliver something he's never come close to approximating or am I just a hater?
I do not get it either, but I have not seen Blakkklansman (though I really want to) so maybe that will change my opinion!
I know nothing about The Joker--why is there a lot of hate around it?
While I have absolutely no desire to ever see it, the woman who scored it is incredible. She also scored Chernobyl.
That is a bummer. The score was not fun or innovative... it felt like a cartoon and was often distracting, not in a good way. I'm guessing it's the clown/weird aspect that the director wanted. I haven't seen Chernobyl - I'll have to check that out.
There have only been like 2-3 women to win best score and only like 5-6 nominated so even if this isn't her best work I'm still pulling for her.
Check out first her arrangement of vichnaya pamyat (it's from Chernobyl). It'll come up first if you Google her name plus the song name. It's my choral director/singer mission in life to make sure the world hears it.
So. I LOVED Little Women. I wasn't sure we needed a... what is it, 9th? film/television adaptation of the novel. I saw the 1994 version in the theater with my mom and had it on VHS and love it to pieces. However, I think Gerwig's interpretation is a perfect example of film as it's own art form. She took the source material and was also inspired by a number of things, from Virginia Wolfe's A Room of One's Own to paintings by a variety of artists depicting the golden light of childhood. She cut and pieced together the story not in the traditional linear fashion, but in flash-back style, allowing her to further connect the themes she was most interested in depicting, mostly about the precarious nature of women's economic status and family.
@@@ That said, Gerwig wrapped filming when she was 6 months pregnant and submitted her first cut 2 days before giving birth. She then spent the summer caring for a newborn and finishing the editing. It didn't make it to the early film festivals (Toronto, etc) because it was still being finalized. I feel like there's a lot of feminist bullshit in that, especially since her partner, Noah Baumberg, made it to all the festivals with HIS movie (Marriage Story).
BUT ALSO. We all know most of the guilds, including the Academy, are still mostly white men (some specialities more than others). Supposedly, even though they receive screener DVDs to watch the films, many men don't want to watch Little Women, because it's a chick movie.
ERGO we have 11 nominations for Joker and no nomination for Gerwig. In a category that only one woman has ever won (for a film about traditionally masculine subject matter) and that has only nominated women a number of times I can physically count on my fingers. In 91 years.
I agree the Gerwig is great and I'm impressed with her timeline with this movie and her birth (and I agree about her H), and if anything she should have won for LadyBird. That was AMAZING!
But I disagree about Little Women being worthy of this. I left the theater thinking it was pretty unforgettable and was disappointed by how unemotionally connected I felt to Jo (Saoirse Ronan). Especially compared to some of the other films that are nominated. I love the book and the other adaptations, but I felt like I didn't believe Jo's love story with the Frenchman at all, and and the diving around from past to present was clever, but didn't add anything special or unique that I didn't feel with other adaptations.
I also disliked the Joker, and can't believe it got so many nomincations. I disliked it for very different reasons. It was NOT unforgettable at all, and the visuals were phenomenal, but the story was a trope and the dialogue boring at best. It also didn't need to introduce the Waynes at all - that added nothing and they could have been villains to Joker even without ever showing up in the movie. It was a movie that never needed to be made, but I loved the Brooklyn backdrop and the weird dancing... the music was terrible, though.
I haven't seen Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, or 1917, but I do agree that Jojo Rabbit, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Parasite, and Marriage Story were more compelling than Little Women and Joker as Oscar movies for me.
This was the point. You weren't supposed to believe it. The book was semi-autobiographical and LM Alcott never married. The professor story line was added almost certainly because that's what publishers wanted. By making his inclusion extra unbelievable, Gerwig was poking fun the fact that she was prevented from telling her real story. I think this whole part is what took the movie from great to best adaptation ever.
...Which I've been afraid to watch too even though I really want to.
I HATE horror films, but I knew I needed to see Get Out. It helped to read EVERY SINGLE SPOILER imaginable and every plot line, etc. I was then 100% prepared and did not find it scary at all, but more psychologically scary. For sure there are SVU episodes scarier than Get Out.
I am glad to hear that if I did not think Get Out was scary that I would be ok with Parasite. The previews made me scared a bit, but I could probably do it knowing it is a similar kind of "scary" that Get Out was.
Am I the only one who doesn't get Adam Driver? I haven't seen Marriage Story but I've never really understood him or thought he was all that. Did he deliver something he's never come close to approximating or am I just a hater?
I do not get it either, but I have not seen Blakkklansman (though I really want to) so maybe that will change my opinion!
I know nothing about The Joker--why is there a lot of hate around it?
It looks to me like a three hour long sympathetic character study of an incel.
Am I the only one who doesn't get Adam Driver? I haven't seen Marriage Story but I've never really understood him or thought he was all that. Did he deliver something he's never come close to approximating or am I just a hater?
Did you see BlacKkKlansman? He was amazing in that. It really opened me up to him as an actor because he killed it in that movie.
I mean, then you have Star Wars where he plays a petulant baby, but the latest one was really good and he was great in it (it rounded out his character).
I agree the Gerwig is great and I'm impressed with her timeline with this movie and her birth (and I agree about her H), and if anything she should have won for LadyBird. That was AMAZING!
But I disagree about Little Women being worthy of this. I left the theater thinking it was pretty unforgettable and was disappointed by how unemotionally connected I felt to Jo (Saoirse Ronan). Especially compared to some of the other films that are nominated. I love the book and the other adaptations, but I felt like I didn't believe Jo's love story with the Frenchman at all, and and the diving around from past to present was clever, but didn't add anything special or unique that I didn't feel with other adaptations.
Hmmm, from what I read with Gerwig was that you were supposed to believe the love story, just that you were supposed to question if she ended up married or not. Jo was so one-dimensional in the whole movie. I didn't believe her love for her sisters, mother, or Laurie either. Even her love of writing seems more shallow than the book or other adaptations. I know that is wrong to say, but I think it was just cast wrong, which is sad b/c I love Saoirse Ronan, but even Amy was more compelling than Jo (actor Florence Pugh). I was so disappointed that Jo didn't read as a 3-dimensional human much in this version. But I did like that you don't know if she's single or not at the end, but I didn't believe she loved writing or the people she is writing about throughout.
Hmmm, from what I read with Gerwig was that you were supposed to believe the love story, just that you were supposed to question if she ended up married or not. Jo was so one-dimensional in the whole movie. I didn't believe her love for her sisters, mother, or Laurie either. Even her love of writing seems more shallow than the book or other adaptations. I know that is wrong to say, but I think it was just cast wrong, which is sad b/c I love Saoirse Ronan, but even Amy was more compelling than Jo (actor Florence Pugh). I was so disappointed that Jo didn't read as a 3-dimensional human much in this version. But I did like that you don't know if she's single or not at the end, but I didn't believe she loved writing or the people she is writing about throughout.
Well the only thing I agree with you on is that Florence Pugh stole the movie.
Caveat: I have never seen Girls which may influence my opinion because someone told me that I wouldn’t like him if I’d watched Girls.
I also have not seen Marriage Story but I LOVE Driver in Star Wars. To me, his acting and the story made a villain compelling and generally I find villains somewhat one note especially in blockbusters (hi, Marvel).
Ok I saw Girls (I know, I know). I could not figure out if he was a truly terrible actor or if was effortlessly portraying a complete sociopath. I settled on the former. This is probably why I don't like him. Once you see that performance, you can't unsee it.
I think the only time I've seen Adam Driver act was when he hosted SNL, but I watched his TED talk where he spoke about his time in the military and the difficulty of integrating back. It was very well done.
Ok I saw Girls (I know, I know). I could not figure out if he was a truly terrible actor or if was effortlessly portraying a complete sociopath. I settled on the former. This is probably why I don't like him. Once you see that performance, you can't unsee it.
I think the only time I've seen Adam Driver act was when he hosted SNL, but I watched his TED talk where he spoke about his time in the military and the difficulty of integrating back. It was very well done.
I have to admit that there were times in Marriage Story where I thought, look Kylo Ren is mad about financials around divorce... even Jedi-types are like us.
The fact that we (collective we) are debating what LW means and what really happened at the end is a sign of a great movie, IMO.
Well I'm not debating the end, just that I didn't relate to Jo and the end is the only redeeming part of the movie. Maybe, that does mean something. Plus, I think Greta Gerwig still should have gotten the nomination just based on her Lady Bird followed by this, but I don't really know how the Oscars skew to try to correct when they don't give an Oscar to someone who seems worthy for past films?
Oh and this makes me think of one more that didn't make the list. The Last Black Man in San Francisco was so interesting and stayed with me. It should have beat out Little Women, Joker, and Marriage Story (and I haven't seen all the nominees for best picture, so maybe others).
Oh and I liked Harriet, but didn't fall in love with it. I wish I would have. I wanted to like it more, but it was a bit unmemorable after the showing. Anyone want to talk about that movie? It was also directed by a woman (who helped co-write the screenplay, I think).
I HATE horror films, but I knew I needed to see Get Out. It helped to read EVERY SINGLE SPOILER imaginable and every plot line, etc. I was then 100% prepared and did not find it scary at all, but more psychologically scary. For sure there are SVU episodes scarier than Get Out.
I am glad to hear that if I did not think Get Out was scary that I would be ok with Parasite. The previews made me scared a bit, but I could probably do it knowing it is a similar kind of "scary" that Get Out was.
I do not get it either, but I have not seen Blakkklansman (though I really want to) so maybe that will change my opinion!
I know nothing about The Joker--why is there a lot of hate around it?
It looks to me like a three hour long sympathetic character study of an incel.
Hard pass.
I know this has been some of the critical perception, but I didn't find it sympathetic in the end. It's a character study, but I didn't perceive that his circumstances were meant to justify his ends. I think the much more interesting commentary in the movie is about populism and class warfare and what desperation does to humanity. Like I said, I went in expecting to hate it, but it surprised me.
Am I the only one who doesn't get Adam Driver? I haven't seen Marriage Story but I've never really understood him or thought he was all that. Did he deliver something he's never come close to approximating or am I just a hater?
I think Adam Driver is a good actor, but I think the best part about him is that he chooses a range of interesting projects.
Basically the consensus is that he's a good actor, but because he isn't Brad Pitt level hot people think he's super special and interesting or something?
I think Adam Driver is an excellent actor. And Marriage Story is fantastic, although the whole Driver is god thing the media has going means ScarJo's outstanding performance is being overshadowed.
And I totally agree with the article about the whole obsession about the Marine/Julliard thing. Perhaps it's because I grew up in a super military area where I knew, for example, a Marine who did gorgeous scrimshaw, a Green Beret who sang opera, and an Army officer who sold paintings through a legit gallery, the whole OMFG ART AND MILITARY SERVICE I CANNOT BELIEVE IT THAT IS FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE THIS GUY IS SO UNIQUE is a tad much for me.
It looks to me like a three hour long sympathetic character study of an incel.
Hard pass.
I know this has been some of the critical perception, but I didn't find it sympathetic in the end. It's a character study, but I didn't perceive that his circumstances were meant to justify his ends. I think the much more interesting commentary in the movie is about populism and class warfare and what desperation does to humanity. Like I said, I went in expecting to hate it, but it surprised me.
You are a woman and not an incel.
I know plenty of people who loved it, I'm just being antagonistic because I have nothing else besides my love of Little Women to contribute, LOL.
I know this has been some of the critical perception, but I didn't find it sympathetic in the end. It's a character study, but I didn't perceive that his circumstances were meant to justify his ends. I think the much more interesting commentary in the movie is about populism and class warfare and what desperation does to humanity. Like I said, I went in expecting to hate it, but it surprised me.
You are a woman and not an incel.
I know plenty of people who loved it, I'm just being antagonistic because I have nothing else besides my love of Little Women to contribute, LOL.
Lol I almost wrote in my post "I think only incels think it was an incel credo" but I didn't want to start that fight.
I think it's only controversial among the people who believe a movie has to be completely tortuous to be an Oscar contender! This, among many other reasons, is why I find the Globes more enjoyable than the Oscars. TV today is fucking amazing.
My unpopular opinions include: 1. I dreaded seeing Joker but ended up thinking it was excellent. Phenomenal acting and cinematography. Disturbing as all hell. 2. Adam Driver gave the best performance of the year in Marriage Story. He has hustled the hell out of this year. That movie was hard to watch, but also so so good. 3. I liked The Irishman.
AGREED. I'm not sure where the hate for this movie is coming from.
And Joaquin Phoenix is an asshole, who as far as I know, hasn't been held accountable for his actions.
Basically the consensus is that he's a good actor, but because he isn't Brad Pitt level hot people think he's super special and interesting or something?
I think Adam Driver is an excellent actor. And Marriage Story is fantastic, although the whole Driver is god thing the media has going means ScarJo's outstanding performance is being overshadowed.
And I totally agree with the article about the whole obsession about the Marine/Julliard thing. Perhaps it's because I grew up in a super military area where I knew, for example, a Marine who did gorgeous scrimshaw, a Green Beret who sang opera, and an Army officer who sold paintings through a legit gallery, the whole OMFG ART AND MILITARY SERVICE I CANNOT BELIEVE IT THAT IS FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE THIS GUY IS SO UNIQUE is a tad much for me.
It says a lot about the jingoism of our society that we forget that vets are diverse individuals.