Should L.A Confidental have won Best Picture?
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ColinChapman — 14 years ago(December 29, 2011 02:56 PM)
That's where you are SO wrong MichaelInlori.
Whereas L.A.Confidential is on #70 on the Imdb top 250, Titanic is rightfully OUT of it!
Now I suggest you check out Red Letter Media's review of "Avatar" (which is a 1,7 million view hit on youtube) to see what kind of cheap tricks James Cameron uses to make a lot of people fall for his cardboard character fluff. Do so before I carefully explain to you how much of an i**** you are. -
Mcclane101 — 14 years ago(January 02, 2012 12:04 AM)
That guy's shot about LA Confidential not being remembered was ridiculous at best. It absolutely deserved best picture, but if the best picture did win everytime then Raging Bull, Mystic River, Gangs of New York, and other movies also were shafted. But people with a real sense of movies know this is the one to see.
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JJdaPK — 14 years ago(January 02, 2012 04:23 PM)
Return of the King was the best Best Picture ever and should not have been beaten by Mystic River.
Gangs of New York is better than Chicago, but I don't know if it should have won.
Anyway, Titanic gets way too much hate. Just because it may have beat a more deserving winner doesnt mean it's the worst best picture. Worst Best Picture is a film that has little to no reedming qualitieslike Crash. -
Mcclane101 — 14 years ago(January 02, 2012 09:00 PM)
Return of the King was only better to those who don't have the emotional maturity for Mystic River. Cinematography aside, Return of the King's only merit was to be the final movie in an ambitious project, and it's Oscar was a reward for the 3 movies collectively. In the end, the LOTR series lacked the acting gravitas and writing to be truly great. Mystic River had both in spades.
Gangs of New York was streets ahead of any other movie that came out that year. That isn't debatable. What is, is that it might be the best movie of the decade. Crash was a cop-out because many voters thought America wasn't ready for Brokeback Mountain, and they were right. America, for the most part, isn't.
The Oscars have given up the right to be considered best picture because there are so many best pictures that are meant to send messages. I loved the Departed, but the only reason it won was as a lifetime achievement award to Martin Scorsese. Million Dollar Baby won as a way to make it up to Clint Eastwood for passing over Mystic River, and that is from the mouths of several voters.
Your opinions are valid as opinions, but as statements of fact are lacking. -
JJdaPK — 14 years ago(January 02, 2012 09:26 PM)
You're right, I shouldnt state my opinions as facts. But when I say Return of hte King is the best "Best Picture", I was just talking from my point of view.
Anyway, I disagree that The Return of the King has poor writing. I think the Lord of the Rings (can't really just say RotK since the trilogy is more like a three part movie), has a great story and it reached it's peak in Return of the King. That's why it deserved the Oscar. The acting wasnt Oscar worthy (with the exception of Andy Serkis who I do think should have won an oscar in the second film, motion capture or not), but it was good enough to make me care about the characters.
Also about CrashI'm not saying it's a bad movie because it beat a more desrving winner. I'm saying it should have lost because I think is a very very BAD movie and that there are probably a dozen or two other movies that should have been nominated instead. I have never seen such a preachy and horribly written movie and downright insulting movie as Crash. That doesnt mean Brokeback needed to win (that movie is a bit overrated), but at least SOME movie other than Crash should have. -
Loincloth — 14 years ago(January 07, 2012 06:41 PM)
McClane 101, I respect your opinions and you lay out your points very well, but I'm afraid to say that Gangs of New York is indubitably a great film is laughable: much, indeed, like that movie, the worst film Scorsese's made a country mile and a film that was so piss-poor it made me want to stab the screen. I'd give it 2 out of 10; both for Daniel Day-Lewis. And in case you're thinking it's just me, I know around two dozen people who've seen it; and one who likes it.
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Mcclane101 — 14 years ago(January 07, 2012 10:38 PM)
The characters of Gangs of New York were the best this side of No Country for Old Men. Daniel Day-Lewis was on fire in that movie and it gave him the juciest role he'd had for a decade. It was the movie that Leonardo Dicaprio broke through as a great in. It is a cynical take on that part of history, but to cynics like me it is refreshing. I could get into why it is my favorite Scorsese movie since Taxi Driver, but that would take more than I want to write. Suffice it to say, as someone who has tried his hand at acting and now occasionally tries to teach it, Day-Lewis, Dicaprio, and Brendan Gleeson give some of the best performances of any of his movies. Maybe No Country and Mystic River are the only two ensemble casts that compare this decade. But, being that this is an LA Confidential thread, I liked it more. The 90s was a decade of great movies, but LA Confidential is my favorite. Schindler's list may have been more important, but LA confidential was more enjoyable, and that is the reason I like Gangs over No Country for my movie of the decade.
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Hopper10 — 13 years ago(September 14, 2012 05:52 PM)
How did return of the king lack writing? The script was drafted from one of the greatest writers of all time! And on scope and scale Mystic Rivers a beep joke compared to ROTK.
Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lies within. -
Mcclane101 — 13 years ago(September 14, 2012 11:59 PM)
This comment is the real joke. If scope was all it took then Waterworld would be an Oscar magnet. Mystic River had phenomenal acting and a tight plot that didn't take 45 minutes to end and, unlike LOTR, didn't have dialogue that would make Michael Bay embarrassed for the writer. It's not like it was a straight adaptation. Peter Jackson curiously added and subtracted from the books. The stuff he cut was better than all of his additions.
And while we're on the subject, with all due respect to JRR Tolkein for what he did for fantasy, he was not a great writer. George RR Martin beep better writing, though it does take forever for him to do it.
Stupid ass quote -
Hopper10 — 13 years ago(September 15, 2012 10:43 AM)
"he was not a great writing."
Hmm i feel like you have no place to say Tolkien wasnt a great writer* haha. But seriously Return of the King is more than a movie. Its one of the greatest fantasies of all time. Whats gonna be remembered more in 10 years?
Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lies within. -
Mcclane101 — 13 years ago(September 16, 2012 11:02 PM)
If you want to get into editing comments, how about some punctuation? And it depends on who's doing the remembering. If it's by people with the emotional depth of a puddle, as seemingly you are, I guess it is LOTR. But, by people who actually want more than dated CGI from their movies, Mystic River stands the test of time better. You can have Peter Jackson. And for that matter, take Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers, and McG, too.
And that goes for Titanic, too. Though, I enjoy Cameron's work by and large, he has no business winning anything other than technical awards. LA Confidential is the superior work, and good points brought up about Good Will Hunting and As Good as it Gets. I forgot about them being from that year, and they both are more meaningful movies than Titanic. Wow. Here's a hint, if a movie doesn't win best actor or actress, or a writing award, then it probably isn't the best picture. -
brucedgo — 13 years ago(October 22, 2012 09:01 PM)
I loved both titanic and LAC, but Return of the King (for me) was so incredibly boring, I left the theater about 2/3 through, went to a restaurant and ate, then came back and watched the end.
I probably would have liked it better forty years ago when I was in my twenties.
Coffee's for closers.- the guy from Mitch and Murray (Alec Baldwin)
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hsuggs — 13 years ago(November 30, 2012 01:15 PM)
unrelated: Appreciate the use of the phrase "Streets Ahead."
heres my youtube check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/hayward1991/videos?view=0 -
GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 — 12 years ago(October 18, 2013 08:14 PM)
"The Oscars have given up the right to be considered best picture because there are so many best pictures that are meant to send messages. I loved the Departed, but the only reason it won was as a lifetime achievement award to Martin Scorsese. Million Dollar Baby won as a way to make it up to Clint Eastwood for passing over Mystic River, and that is from the mouths of several voters."
That is about the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'll tell you why. Clint Eastwood won best picture and Best director for Unforgiven. So to me it doesn't matter that he didn't win for Mystic River and he shouldn't have won for Million Dollar Baby. But that's just my opinion. I mean how many Oscars does a person need!?
"You want me to roll 6,000 of these!? What? Should I quit my job!?" George Costanza, Seinfeld -
Michaelnlori — 13 years ago(April 19, 2012 04:55 AM)
The IMDB top 250 means nothing as far as TITANIC is concerned. There are many great films that are not on the list and many films on that list that shouldn't be there. I see TITANIC is back in the theatres and still drawing an audience and LA CONFIDENTAL is in the bargin racks at Best Buy. I'm just saying it was an epic event film that deserved to rewarded. And I don't sppreciate being called an I****.
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kth-lafountaine — 12 years ago(March 13, 2014 05:40 PM)
That example has no bearing on a film's quality. Michael Bay's Armageddon was an epic event as well - it made over $200 million and is constantly played on TV and viewed online. That does not mean it's better than Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho which I constantly see on sale for $5 or less on the bargain shelves.
I would have awarded Cameron for best director for that year because he did deserve some recognition - he changed the way modern CGI is used in film (for better or worse) - but when you stack up the writing, directing, production design, and acting of LAC against Titanic, there is no doubt in my mind that Titanic's one note romance story is nothing compared to the multi-layered, nuanced narrative that LAC provides.