Monday, February 29, 2016

The 88th Annual Academy Awards - Reaction














  1. We had most of the same thoughts...haha. Still don't see why everyone thought Stallone was going to win. Shocked BoS guy won, he was the weakest in my opinion and the comedy releif, I would have loved Tom Hardy to win supporting since he totally stole The Revenant from Leo. I liked leo in it, but it felt he won because everybody in the nation was crying over spilt milk.

    As for the song, is it really that awful? I mean, the more I listen to it the more I enjoy it, but it can't be God Awful as people are saying. Can it be interpreted as boring? Of course, music is suggestive, but even you have to admit that the songs this year were.....drab. Even Lady Gaga. I liked the message, and the song, but halfway through I felt like taking a nap.

    And as for Ex Machina, except for Vikander's face Eva is all CGI. Reading some interviews about the making of Ex Machina and in particular the SFX is so astounding that it was a shoe in they'd win.

    Overall I enjoyed this years oscars. Better than last years.

    1. Completely agree on Leo. Him winning doesn't bother me, it's fine, whatever, but he wouldn't have been my choice. I agree that he wasn't even the best performance in that film.

      Should probably mention that I really, really don't care for Sam Smith's music in general so was never likely to enjoy his Bond song. I find it to be insufferably boring, but that's how I view all of his music. Of the three performances shown, he would come in third for me, and if you include the two other songs nominated he would come in a distant fifth. I'm sure others enjoy it, hell I know Sam Smith has a lot of fans, but no thank you haha.

      I think Ex Machina just surprised me because it just felt like the underdog against those big films. Mad Max, Star Wars, Martian, Revenant...and then an indie Sci fi picture distributed by A24. Just one of those times I wondered if the politics of the awards would even give Machina a chance, so when they said it I was shocked. I guess it didn't win a single effects award leading up to the Oscars either and this is the first time in history a film won nothing before winning that category from the Academy.

    2. Okay,
      1.) If you take the bias away from the artist in the song would you say the hatred towards it is mostly because it's a Bond song, rather than a bad song?
      2.)And that's exactly why I think it was more obvious for Ex Machina. I mean, it's great that big budget films have enough money to do some amazing scenes. Like the mad max sandstorm. That was breathtaking, but I still knew it was fake. With Ex Machina I had no idea how they used the CGI, and when they were showing bits of it on the oscars it still surprises me how realistic the CG was, and because it made you question whether it was CG or not is the biggest reason I leaned towards it.

    3. 1) a fair question but I actually really liked the Adele Bond song. I thought it suited the into so well and kept the momentum going after the outstanding opening sequence, where as here an outstanding opening sequence fell off a cliff with a slow, boring song from Smith. I just don't care for his style at all, haha.

      You make a very great point regarding Ex Machina winning the effects award, and that's the thing, I don't think it was unworthy. I am pretty damn happy it won. I guess I just figure the politics of the Oscars can overwhelm a film actually getting what they deserve, and that the big budget pictures would find a way to get the votes they need over the little guy.