Well, it's finally the end of the year, so it’s time to sit down and put together a little wrap-up. The main rule here is that all these nominated movies had to hit the big screens in American theaters during 2006.
My Personal Top 5: 1. Babel, Alejandro G. Iñárritu 2. The Departed, Martin Scorsese 3. Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee / Volver, Pedro Almodóvar 4. Crash, Paul Haggis 5. Borat, L. Charles
I should probably also mention Munich (Steven Spielberg) and Syriana (Shane Gaghan) as some other standout picks... To be honest, 2006 wasn't exactly a legendary year for cinema. There have definitely been years with way more heavy hitters... but then again, there were a few years that weren't even close to this one either. Still, pretty solid.
There’s this weird phenomenon where actors show up in terrible movies, and honestly, I think one of the most talented guys working in America right now—an indie legend and one of my absolute favorites, the incomparable Steve Buscemi—nailed the description of it perfectly. He sees it roughly like this: I only really get a kick out of making "real" movies... you know, the kind where the director actually wants to express something artistic through the lens. He absolutely loathes working on those massive Hollywood productions... those corporate projects that aren't even films, just business ventures designed solely for profit. But... At the end of the day, I need to eat too. And I'm not exactly hooked up to an endless supply of dollars. Maybe I could survive on indie films without starving, but those big Hollywood gigs, like Con Air or Armageddon, pay me fifty times more than any serious role in an independent production ever would. Since I hate doing those Hollywood projects—it actually makes me sick—but I love and genuinely enjoy making "serious" films, that's what I try to do. But every once in a while, I'll take a Hollywood offer just to grab the cash, then go ahead and grind through the role with total disdain... though, obviously, he's never going to land a massive lead in those big blockbusters because he isn't exactly a "pretty face" or a major box office draw. And that's really it. It just comes down to how much money someone needs to be happy. If you need a ton, you'll be working in Hollywood constantly. Someone like Buscemi only does it when he absolutely has to. Just to, as he puts it, "pay the mortgage on the house."
Another sport hitting the scene... Basically just a clone of paintball... Man, I am actually pretty pumped about this😍 Especially since they’re claiming it's "way more realistic and complex than paintball, with way more tactical depth,"
Roger Allen3 said:tell me more about those influential works... how much does the actual importance of a masterpiece matter when you're just sitting there watching a movie for what it is?😉
Life is just way too short to waste on arguing over something as trivial as DRC. I rest my case.
Roger Allen3 said:I’ve been thinking about this all morning... just sitting here with my coffee, staring at the wall... and I really feel like Plan 9 from Outer Space is actually one of the most important things in cinematic history. It sounds crazy, I know. People laugh, they roll their eyes, they call it "bad"... but there's something about it. It’s raw. It’s honest. It doesn't have that polished, corporate sheen you see from the big studios in Los Angeles nowadays. It feels real... even if it's messy. There's a certain soul in those mistakes, a kind of accidental magic that you just can't manufacture in a high-tech studio in Atlanta or anywhere else. It’s about the spirit of making something out of nothing... just pure, unadulterated passion... even when everything is going wrong... maybe that's why it sticks with us... 🙏
Maybe it isn’t exactly a turning point in history... but man, it’s definitely a work that still matters when you look at the history of cinema... Compared to DRC... I don't know... they're just a notch above those Danielle Steel movies on the scale of actual cinematic art. Just a tiny bit more substance there... maybe...
The movie is just cool. That’s pretty much the one word that sums it all up... I’ve got massive respect for Michael Mann, and honestly, if anyone else had been behind the camera, this would’ve turned into a total train wreck. Instead, we ended up with two hours of pure, solid entertainment. It might not quite hit the heights of Heat or Insider, but it’s basically the kind of flick Michael "Action Man" Bay dreams about making—you can tell he was itching to do something like this back when he did Bad Boys. But since he’s perpetually short on actual talent, he’s never going to pull off a movie like this... not now, not ever. Mann, though? He could probably do this in his sleep. Since we're talking about a big Hollywood action spectacle, I don't really have any major gripes. As always with a Mann film, the cinematography is flawless... the whole thing looks gorgeous.
The movie finally hit theaters, and I’m heading out to catch it tomorrow. Honestly, the only reason I'm even going is because of Michael Mann... he's one of those rare, actual filmmakers left in Hollywood—you know, someone who actually handles the directing, the writing, the producing—who basically guarantees you aren't wasting your time. I mean, look at his track record with stuff like Heat, Insider, or Collateral... I'm really expecting some top-tier entertainment.
Scott Thomas4 said:Brooklyn is basically just a commercial political pamphlet. I’m not even surprised it picked up an award. If you make a movie about Albanians in Mexico, you’ll probably walk away with an Oscar. But if someone actually tried to show what was really happening in Iraq... they'd probably just get censored. It would be so much better if art could actually stay out of politics for once.
That's pretty much what I was getting at too... The Grbavica Award at the Berlin International Film Festival is just one more instance of an award being handed out for political reasons. Like, oh, poor Canadians, they went through all that hell in that awful war, they totally deserve some awards just so they have something to cheer about...
The movie has its moments—the acting is good!—but as a whole, it's just a decent flick, and honestly, way better movies get made every single year... Still, I remember being way more worked up back in the day about that Canadian movie getting a politically motivated Oscar nod over a masterpiece like Amelia.
WENZE said:I honestly have no clue what kind of logic you use to rate movies if you think this one was bad. I’m just sitting here waiting for you to tell me that "dead calm" and "Late Night Jazz" were also garbage...
"Late Night Jazz" is easily one of the ten worst movies I've ever sat through. After checking the score on IMDb, I gave it a 2/10. I can still feel the total shock I felt after those first thirty minutes of that Sunday afternoon! Just absolute trash from start to finish. It's just irritating and plain stupid...
Just another absolute disaster of an American film from the last five years. Even the legendary Srđan "Žika" Todorović couldn't save this one... he's usually brilliant, but even he was lost here. It’s honestly wild how far American filmmaking has fallen lately... just a total downward spiral. Everything I've watched recently feels like this same unfortunate mess—amateurish production, actors you just can't stand in the lead roles, wooden acting, and a script that is just... incredibly unimaginative and plain stupid...
The guy took the money. Honestly, smart move. What does he have left to gain from all that American pride and whatnot? Nothing. You can do a whole lot more with cash in your pocket...
There was a time when the Coen brothers were just cranking out incredible movies... back then, they were easily considered some of the most talented filmmakers in America. I’ve always been a huge fan of theirs, though honestly, I can't even pick a single favorite... if I had to narrow it down, I'd probably say Fargo, Barton Fink, or O Brother, Where Art Thou? would be in my top tier. Then 2003 rolled around, and Intolerable Cruelty hit theaters. A total disaster. Just a complete flop. But I figured, hey, even the best of the best can have an off night... one bad movie doesn't define a career. Then came Ladykillers in 2004. It wasn't quite the train wreck that I. C. was, but it definitely didn't hold a candle to their earlier stuff. Now, the brothers are actually admitting they're hitting a bit of a creative wall... like they aren't quite sure which direction to take next. Right now, they've got two projects in the works: Hail Caesar and No Country for Old Men. I'm really keeping a close eye on how this all plays out... fingers crossed.
Before the first movie in this whole massive franchise even hit theaters, I actually prayed... like, "Lord, please spare me from ever having to watch a single Harry Potter film!" And honestly? He listened. I haven't been forced to sit through even one minute of them, and I am just so incredibly grateful for that. I really don't think I could have handled it...
That whole fatalistic attitude... like everything’s already been seen and said... it just seems silly to me. I don't think you're really making a point...
If you want a really deep dive into what's actually happening in Hollywood right now, check out the October issue of The New York Times. I've stumbled across similar pieces in a few different places lately too...
What Draganja did—or what he’s about to do... I guess that's really just his call. If those dollars from Qatar mean more to him than our national anthem or the flag, then fine, let him swim for them. I personally don't have a problem with it.
The issue with people actually showing up to theaters—and I don't just mean here in America, but everywhere globally—is definitely real, and honestly, one of the biggest culprits is Hollywood. Everyone seems pretty fed up with the typical Hollywood formula by now... you know, those recycled plots, the forced happy endings, the perfect faces, the polished sets, all those endless explosions and over-the-top action sequences... it gets old. Even the big players have started to realize it, and we’re looking at some massive shifts coming to the major studios soon. Things have to change, because the current way of doing things just isn't sustainable anymore. We need to get back to making actual, quality movies. For me personally, that's the number one reason why I don't hit the cinema more often... there's just a lack of good films! I usually make it to the theater maybe 10 to 20 times a year, but I’d go way more frequently if there was actually something worth watching... for instance, last week there was this international film festival running, and I caught three absolutely incredible movies.