Oscar Reflections

[TheCalvinator24]

It is my humble opinion that EVERY Coen brothers movie should have been Best Picture. "Hudsucker Proxy" and "Barton Fink" and "Miller's Crossing" and "Fargo" and "Raising Arizona" wuz all robbed.

Blood Simple was pretty darn good, too. In fact, it's probably #3 all-time on my Coen list after O! Brother & Fargo.

I do note that the Coen films you don't name (other than Blood Simple) are the ones I think aren't up to snuff: The Big Lebowski, The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty, and Burn After Reading.

[KillerTomato]

Actually, I was just tired of typing on my phone. Although "Ladykillers" and "Intolerable Cruelty" aren't up to their usual quality.

"Burn After Reading" is growing on me. I've seen it twice and liked it more the second time...a good sign.

"Lebowski" though is simply brilliant, and ranks third on my list of favorite Coen movie (after "Fargo" and "No Country").

"The Dude Abides" may have to be my new .sig.

[SportsFan68]

. . .

The only movie I can think of that I've been more disappointed seeing was The Piano. All my friends with what I thought was taste in movies raved about it. I drove an hour to a theater to see it. The drive was the best part of the experience. All I really cared about was why they were building all those fences (in the background of several scenes were people building fences). Was it to keep people out? People in? Or was it some sort of animals? THAT would've been a great movie - more about the fences! Just throw that dang piano overboard already - and maybe the whole cast and crew with it. . . .

. . .

I feel the same way about ET. "A very special film" is how it was touted to me. "You have to see this movie."

Ugh. I did not like it and am sorry I listened to my co-workers instead of my hunch based on the trailers.

[Ritterskoop]

Sprots, I will send you an email late tonight about Crash. I do not intend to try to change your mind about it, or get you to see it again, but I intend to show you what I saw in it, which does indeed include both hope and redemption. I have screened it a dozen times or more for class, and I see something new every time.

There is one devastatingly sad death, and that might color everything for you, but even from that event I learned something about myself.

I will write it up late tonight. Class beckons right now.

I cannot give you another angle on E.T., though. It is a story that makes me cry (in a good way) just to think about it (it doesn't hurt that it has one of the most memorable scores ever, which makes it easy to summon up).

I know in my head that all of us disagree on matters of taste and preference, but to me, E.T. is one of the best love stories ever told. I am sorry it did not click for you.

Huh. Now I know how people feel when they try to convince me their religion is the only one......

[franktangredi]

I know in my head that all of us disagree on matters of taste and preference.

And one of the hardest things is to try to draw the line between "my favorite" and "the best." Sometimes, you can appreciate a film without really loving it. And sometimes, you can love a film while still knowing that it's not great.

I know that my own list of favorite films is very different from my list of greatest films. But if you ask me to explain the difference, it's not always easy.

[SportsFan68]

Sprots, I will send you an email late tonight about Crash. I do not intend to try to change your mind about it, or get you to see it again, but I intend to show you what I saw in it, which does indeed include both hope and redemption. I have screened it a dozen times or more for class, and I see something new every time.

There is one devastatingly sad death, and that might color everything for you, but even from that event I learned something about myself.

I will write it up late tonight. Class beckons right now.

Thanks, Skoop -- that will be very helpful to me.

Thanks for not trying to get me to watch it again, even though I expect to comprehend the hope and redemption when you illuminate them for me. I will not read the book Needful Things a second time because both a kid and a dog die in it. The devastatingly sad death you mention, which does indeed color it for me, along with the horrific traffic stop in Crash, will probably make it impossible for me to bring myself to watch it again.

[Ritterskoop]

Sprots, I will send you an email late tonight about Crash. I do not intend to try to change your mind about it, or get you to see it again, but I intend to show you what I saw in it, which does indeed include both hope and redemption. I have screened it a dozen times or more for class, and I see something new every time.

There is one devastatingly sad death, and that might color everything for you, but even from that event I learned something about myself.

I will write it up late tonight. Class beckons right now.

Thanks, Skoop -- that will be very helpful to me.

Thanks for not trying to get me to watch it again, even though I expect to comprehend the hope and redemption when you illuminate them for me. I will not read the book Needful Things a second time because both a kid and a dog die in it. The devastatingly sad death you mention, which does indeed color it for me, along with the horrific traffic stop in Crash, will probably make it impossible for me to bring myself to watch it again.

Mom called me after the traffic stop scene, and said she could not watch the rest of it. I said I understood, but if she would try again sometime, it would get better. She called a few weeks later, when she had been so depressed she said it could not get any worse, and thought she might as well finish the movie. It did get better, for her.

Her favorite line, and one that we repeat as often as possible:

Spoiler

"It's a really good cloak."

I think one viewing is enough, like "Schindler's List" - everyone should see it once but no one has to watch it again.

I am glad you mentioned Needful Things, because now I will take it off the to-read shelf.