The Gold Rush: A Conversation About Oscars, Part 2

THIS IS PART 2 OF THE GOLD RUSH 2014, AN ANNUAL OSCAR CONVERSATION BETWEEN FRIENDS. TO READ PART 1 VISIT THE SILVER SCREENING ROOM HERE.

TO CONTINUE READING PART 2, JUST GO RIGHT AHEAD AND READ:

March King: I also think Frozen steps up and returns the Best Animated Feature award to Disney. The Wind Rises was good, but not good enough. It would've had to be another Spirited Away, and it just didn't bring that same level of vibrance. The Croods was cool, but just barely misses "Oscar worthy" in my mind.

Silver Screener: Not that I'd know! I only saw Frozen. But I do agree that it's probably going to win.

MK: Wow. You missed a pretty good year for animation bud. When Pixar misses the category all together, the other studios tend to step up their game.

SS: Did Pixar have something this year? Monsters University, right?

MK: Yup. Not good enough Pixar.

SS: Look, I don't think Monsters Inc. is all that, either.

MK: It didn't win. But I actually do love that one.

SS: ANYWAY…

MK: So there was another noteworthy snub... Spike Jonze. Yes he was nominated for Original Screenplay, but not for Director... even though his movie Her is up for Best Picture.

SS: Yeah, but there are up to ten slots for Picture and only five for Director, so something's gotta give. I wish that something was Alexander Payne, but ALAS.

MK: David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese all should've given way for someone else.

"Sorry guys. Give me just five seconds and I'll be out of your hair."

So for me that really only leaves two candidates standing in the Directing category...

SS: Yup yup: McQueen and Cuarón.

MK: Between them... it's sort of tough for me, just because I love both of these guys' films so much. Past and present. But I gotta go with Alfonso Cuarón on this one. Even though I think 12 Years a Slave ultimately wins the big award.

SS: And I get that. Cuarón should've been nominated for Children of Men, he does great visual work with Gravity, but man -- McQueen knocked it out of the park. The visuals, the ensemble, the editing. Everything in 12 Years a Slave just clicks so perfectly.

MK: But Gravity became so much bigger because of Cuarón's vision. It truly became an event. Something you can't experience the same way at home.

SS: And I give Cuarón credit for that, but personally, for me, that kind of limits it. Akin, almost, to THIS IS CINERAMA being a showcase for a new format. Gravity can only really endure on the big screen.

MK: Actually, I may have it backwards now that I think on it. Steve McQueen gets Director, but Gravity gets Best Picture. That would certainly make a statement about the state of Hollywood. “What's necessary for film to survive further down the road.”

SS: That certainly *would* shake things up! Everyone would lose their Oscar pools!

 

Damnit! I always get these things wrong!

(Laughs.)

MK: I know right? But I already lost mine anyway. I always get too sentimental about these things. I'd probably put Her on an Oscar pool even though I know... I know...

SS: Yeah, you gotta separate your head from your heart. Like, I'd LOVE for Blue Jasmine to win Original Screenplay and Supporting Actress, but it's not gonna happen.

MK: Because the Oscars are based on a big old conglomerate of opinions. But it will win in one very very crucial category...

SS: YEEEEEESSSSS CATE THE GREAAAAAAAT!

MK: We love you Cate! You really do deserve this.

SS: Amy Adams was great too but CAAAAAATE!

MK: No, I know. Best Actress is a great category. But Cate! Ooh... and Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years for Supporting Actress too. That’s my pick anyway.

SS: I think Jennifer Lawrence may win.

MK: ...Again?

 

Oh no. Not another tie.

SS: Or....A TIE

MK: ...Is that possible??

SS: To quote Tilda Swinton in the shoulda-been Best Picture winner of 2008, "Anything is possible."

MK: "Anything is possible." I think that's a pretty good theme for this year's Oscars. And a pretty good way to close out this year’s Gold Rush. In 2013 we saw bigger than life realities and minuscule, tender moments that touched us more than any crazy super hero action sequence ever could. We saw game changing event films and art house instant classics... and we saw a few less than desirable movies take home box office successes, but such is the industry.

SS: Couldn't have said it better myself. And with, for once, a tight race for Best Picture, 2013 is a true GOLD RUSH.

Lonesome Is The Best Way To Describe The Grays Of Nebraska

It's interesting to see how Alexander Payne chooses his themes. After his big time success with the "paradise isn't paradise" theme in The Descendants, he turned his focus to middle America and a location that has never once been referred to as a paradise of any kind.

Nebraska was a weird but engrossing journey. At the outset, it seemed as if the majority of the characters were going to be rather stubborn, intensely unlikable people. But as the film delved deeper, I came to understand at least two or three of those people and why it is they had become the way they were and lived the lives they had lived. There was a clearcut separation in my mind of what was a good person in this world and what was a bad person. And there seemed to be an incredibly painful, but awkwardly fulfilling message buried just below the surface that this place will take everyone sooner or later and there really is no getting out, but if you can hold on to who you really are, perhaps in the end you'll be rewarded with a more caring family than you thought you could know.

Granted all of this takes time to develop and I may be reading farther into this than what is necessary. But Nebraska flowed so strangely and gave me a lot of time within the stillness of its frames to ponder why the filmmaker wanted me to see these moments. While there seemed nothing but intense loneliness in the beginning something blossomed from that feeling. Something almost beautiful.

This was a strange role for Will Forte. Strange in that he didn't play strange at all. Usually I expect to see him do something out there and crazy, so it was nice and different to see him take a turn at something more down to earth and sincere. Bruce Dern was excellent and after seeing this it's uncanny to me that I haven't gotten to see him in a starring role in my lifetime. But when you're the guy who killed John Wayne in a movie... what do you expect? June Squibb was fun to watch albeit, we don't get as much of a chance with her character. She seemed to be more loudmouthed than anyone else in the film, yet I can honestly say I believed her. I've known of people like that. And I was happy to see Bob Odenkirk in limited time. Once again, it was strange to see him playing such a withdrawn character. Lastly, Stacy Keach did an excellent job as the silky terrible antagonist.

Alexander Payne's a strange director. I feel like every one of his films has been made with the intention of drawing as much awkward tension out of the audience as possible. Yet, somehow, I find myself appreciating that. His films are almost always great and they always seem to be making a point that is, at heart, greater than any one film can be. So I commend him for that.

Nebraska creates a black and white, wishy-washy world filled with vistas of unrecognized beauty.