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.

The Awesome Gravity Tie-In... Aningaaq

I love this!

That the Cuaróns thought to show us this little bit of someone else's story that directly connects to Gravity. It's even cooler when the connection is made that this person exists on Earth, but their situation is also maddeningly frustrating. Beautiful that Jonás and Alfonso Cuarón found another compelling way to work together.

They are a very exciting father/son tandem. And I dearly hope to see more from the two of them.

Understanding The Gravity Of Gravity

WAY TOO MANY SPOILERS
Gravity is one of the most thrilling movies ever made. Unlike any other film, it is more reminiscent of a roller coaster, or a really intense video game. From start to finish it pulls the viewer in and relentlessly tugs at their sanity. After all, what would you do if put in that same situation? With this one question, the video game metaphor comes to life in a completely metaphysical way.

Of course I can only speak from my own experience, but the most shocking element of the film for me wasn't the utter chaos and destruction taking place on screen, it was the emotional turmoil taking place within my head. Wanting to reach out and help her. When in first person, I felt like I was becoming her and all I wanted to do was just... reach... down... and grab... that... handle. Of course I'm referring to that near orgasmic climax when she reaches the Chinese station and is truly out there without a tether, no communication, no ship, no one else to help her out. It's just her and that fire extinguisher which is without a doubt almost out of spray. And she lets it go and reaches and reaches and the station is just beneath her head and just centimeters from her fingertips and all I want in the world in that moment is for her to GRAB THAT GODDAMN HANDLE AND GET THE HELL INSIDE!!
NO MORE SPOILERS

It's truly an impressive feat to get everyone in the audience's teeth chattering like that.

So by now you're asking, "why is he writing another post about this movie?" Well this one isn't so much about the movie its self as it is about what comes next.

It's no secret that the film industry has been floundering of late. Ever-growing budgets, and a decrease in audience attendance (really an increase in other options besides going to the local cinema) creates this odd market flip wherein a single motion picture can essentially bankrupt a studio. Video games are a part of the problem as is television (but these days to a much lesser extent), the internet, and Netflix. Actually the most difficult issue the film industry has to deal with today is surprisingly the reason film became so popular in the early twentieth century to begin with.

That is, keeping audiences interested.

In today's world, I find myself constantly over-sated. I can watch videos on my phone, my ipad, my laptop, my home computer, my 42" television. I can read books on a device that mimics the exact look of ink on paper and I get the scores of all the football games with a little buzz from my pocket. And it's only getting crazier. With the advent of Google Glass and iWatch and whatever else they think up next (a car that actually drives its self allowing me to do whatever I want on my way to work perhaps) it is becoming more and more difficult to separate from the rest of humanity... or rather to simply focus on one task, one individual moment. There's just too much going on in the world.

Like with the initial coming of television (and later the VCR), film once again has to find a way in a market that is ever flooding. It has to prove that it is THE place you can go to have nothing pulling you in another direction. Because it's dark in there and the screen is so big, there is an unwritten rule (and more increasingly a written one) of no cellphones, no talking, no ruining it for anybody else. There is a sort of psychology to it. And people want to comply. But they're having a harder and harder time of actually paying attention. Some movies are too big and loud and many people just want to stay home and watch the next episode of Breaking Bad. After all it has the same quality of drama but from the comfort of the couch. And I know this is nothing new. It's been happening for years. What the film industry has been searching for with those big "blockbusters" with the constant noise, the explosions, and the third act that decides it's just gonna repeat those two things until it feels like it's done it enough and it should probably stop, is create

AN EXPERIENCE

that can't be had on the couch at home.

Enter Gravity. With Gravity's video game makeup and roller coaster feeling on that same massive film screen (and even bigger with IMAX), the audience has been afforded an experience they don't want to turn away from, because they feel a part of it. It's a step. And it may be the next step of "blockbuster" filmmaking. So what does this mean?

It means a slew of copycat films. Perhaps a new genre, the "experience film". When Avatar came to theaters it was a sign of the changing foundation. Whatever we may think of it, Avatar proved that good 3D could be a reason for audiences to sit down in a dark theater... they came in droves. So the industry bit. They bit too hard. 3D once again had a backlash. But, unlike in the 80s, they invested too heavily and have kept it going this time. It seems these days every big movie is in 3D. And that includes Gravity. But unlike all of those other copycat movies, Gravity's 3D is pretty much a necessity. It brings you further into the world of the film and helps to make you feel like a part of it.

Now I have a few worries here. The first being Alfonso Cuarón's career. Cuarón is one of my most favorite directors. I just wonder what could be next for the man. Does he fall into the trap and try to make another "experience" movie like Gravity? Or does he move on knowing he's already mastered that style? It took him seven years after Children Of Men to make Gravity. Is there a chance he stops there? Is there a chance he never makes another motion picture? The second worry is, when the copycat flicks come along (and I'm pretty confident they will) who's gonna be in charge of them? If it's a studio trying to force it and they hire just any director, just any writer, just anybody we could be in for a long drought of quality filmmaking. This style of movie requires absolute precision. And I don't know how many directors could manage to hit all of the marks. Beyond that, what would another movie in this style even look like? Where would it take place? Space is so hard to do and Gravity managed it with an exceptional element of realism. Does it work underwater? Or in a war zone? Does it work with anything other than space?

So that's where I'm at right now. I am currently obsessed with Gravity. I've seen it twice and I want to see it again in IMAX. But (and here's the over-satiation kicking in) what's next?

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity

I just saw Gravity... Wow!

This could have easily been a let down after so many years (seven as I count back to Children of Men). And I'm having trouble comprehending that it's been so long since that fantastic film. But Gravity is not a disappointment. Not even remotely. This flick is a triumph. If ever you hoped to be taken on a roller coaster without the dangers of some teenager forgetting to properly buckle your seatbelt... well, you may actually still need a seatbelt for this.

Gravity combines so many great elements from various media into an epic piece that can only exist in film. I loved the feeling of first-person pressures, like I was in a video game trying at every turn to help Sandra Bullock when every bit of the universe seemed out to get her. I loved the music... and the silence. I loved two very brilliant performances. I once had doubts about Sandra Bullock's ability to carry a movie... not anymore. At least not with a director as talented as Cuarón.

Let's face it... the man's made seven movies since 1991. The man's made seven EXCELLENT movies. Yet after arguably his greatest feat in Children of Men (a modern masterpiece by my reckoning), he stopped. Flat. For more than half a decade I felt an emptiness in the film world because he wasn't there making a follow up. But that's just it. He wasn't making a follow up. You can't call something as epic as Gravity just "a follow up". He wanted to get it right. His passion is apparent in everything he touches. And he doesn't make movies just take movies. He makes THE movie. Each time.

Sólo con tu Pareja, A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y Tu Mamá También, The Prisoner of Azkaban (arguably the best stand alone film in the Harry Potter series), Children of Men, and now Gravity.

That's a hell of a list.

After tonight, I'm so glad to know he's back. And I'm already chomping at the bit to see what he's got in store for us next.