Cinematic Low Point
February 16th, 2006I'm embarassed to say that I haven't seen any of the Oscar-nominated films in any of the major categories this year. Such is life with two small children and few babysitters.
The most major category that I have seen a nominated film in is for original screenplay: Match Point. If it hadn't been Woody Allen, I wouldn't have seen that, either.
The other categories in which I have seen films? Art direction, costume design, makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects. I have seen every movie in the visual effects category, and two of the three were a couple of my least favorite movies of 2005.
King Kong was simply unbearable. If I find out that one of my friends is going to rent King Kong, I'm going to schedule a dentist appointment instead. Horrendous. And then there's War of the Worlds . . . popcorn movie from start to finish. This is a great movie for radio and also for movie special effects teams, but it just doesn't make for an exciting movie.
The nominated movies I have seen are Match Point, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, King Kong, War of the Worlds, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Star Wars: Episode III. I know, I know . . . not the highest quality selection of 2005, but when half your movies are intended for children under 8, what are you to do? Still, I was quite pleased with Charlie and the Chocoalte Factory and The Chronicles of Narnia. Match Point was good, except that we've already seen this Woody Allen story as just a portion of the superior Crimes and Misdemeanors. Star Wars III was my favorite SW prequel. Harry Potter, King Kong, and Tom Cruise can all just go away.
This post was originally posted at The Smarmy Carny, Novac's general blog.