Topic: 2006 Alternative Oscars

[Antares]

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Winner:Crash (2004/I) - Paul Haggis; Cathy Schulman

Other Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Diana Ossana; James Schamus
Capote (2005) - Caroline Baron (I); William Vince (I); Michael Ohoven
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Grant Heslov
Munich (2005) - Kathleen Kennedy (I); Steven Spielberg; Barry Mendel

[Antares]

This was a year where I've only seen one of the nominated films, Good Night, and Good Luck.

David Straitharn was excellent as Edward R. Murrow.

To be honest, the rest of the nominated films held no interest for me. A very weak year for the Best Picture category.

[Critter]

Haven't seen enough to vote. It's shocking I know but I've only seen Brokeback Mountain. I really need to see the rest.

[Tom]

I have only seen Good Night and Good Luck, and I didn't enjoy it all that much.

[Najemikon]

I've seen all but Capote. This was the year everyone said Brokeback Mountain should have won and it is an excellent film, but I felt it was getting too much attention because it was a gay film. I did find Crash far more interesting, while I do understand some of the reservations.

I hope this doesn't start another of those threads, but I do think Munich might well have been the most deserving. However! [he quickly adds] I again understand some of the reservations against it, I just thought it held the most interesting, and purely character driven, premise.

I like Goodnight and Good Luck though. Fascinating subject and an excellent cast. I'd have been pleased to see it win.

[Antares]

I hope this doesn't start another of those threads, but I do think Munich might well have been the most deserving. However! [he quickly adds] I again understand some of the reservations against it, I just thought it held the most interesting, and purely character driven, premise.

I can't jump on you for it because I haven't seen it. But the reason I haven't watched it is because I saw an HBO movie back in the mid-80's called Sword of Gideon, which was, from what I hear, pretty much a case of carbon copying by Spielberg. 

[Najemikon]

I hope this doesn't start another of those threads, but I do think Munich might well have been the most deserving. However! [he quickly adds] I again understand some of the reservations against it, I just thought it held the most interesting, and purely character driven, premise.

I can't jump on you for it because I haven't seen it. But the reason I haven't watched it is because I saw an HBO movie back in the mid-80's called Sword of Gideon, which was, from what I hear, pretty much a case of carbon copying by Spielberg. 

As you can't jump up and down on me for it... I will quickly say this. The core of the critisicm against Spielberg for this plot seems to be that he sits very much on the fence and doesn't seem to offer any insight as to what happened or why. That's as may be, but it's a thorny issue, so I can't blame him. However, then you have to ask, why do it at all? I think his purpose was to study Eric Bana's character and what it means to murder someone under orders from those who believe they have the morals to do so, even if they don't have to do the act. I found that characters journey very powerful and a more pointed social commentary could only detract from it. A couple of the murder scenes are quite nasty as the point is driven home, that this is not easy, regardless of the reasons. I felt it could be a reference to what followed 9/11; revenge should not be taken lightly, etc.

I hadn't seen anything of Sword of Gideon and the plot does sound pretty much the same. Timing and staging is everything though.

[Antares]

Have you seen Sword of Gideon?

[Najemikon]

Have you seen Sword of Gideon?

You just missed my edit! No, but I'd be interested to. It's so close I wonder if they shared source material. It's a while since I saw Munich, but I'm sure Bana played someone called Avner in that.

[Antares]

Have you seen Sword of Gideon?

You just missed my edit! No, but I'd be interested to. It's so close I wonder if they shared source material. It's a while since I saw Munich, but I'm sure Bana played someone called Avner in that.

It was one of HBO's first good films. You'd like it, a very good character study.

[Najemikon]

Have you seen Sword of Gideon?

You just missed my edit! No, but I'd be interested to. It's so close I wonder if they shared source material. It's a while since I saw Munich, but I'm sure Bana played someone called Avner in that.

It was one of HBO's first good films. You'd like it, a very good character study.

I'll look out for it, though I suppose it's quite rare. I should have read a bit further on Wikipedia. They mention the book called Vengeance: Sword of Gideon. I'm sure I remember a reference to that book in the Munich press.

[Antares]

IIRC, it's only available on DVD in region 2.

[snowcat]

Strangely enough... ive seen all of these.

Now, my vote would be for Crash, im glad it won, I love Crash, it reminds me of Magnolia, which I have said before is my favourite film, I love the ensemble cast style used... (I often use an ensemble cast style in my own scripts and short films.)

I like Brokeback, but It had alot of hype around it, Crash was a deserving winner

Munich was ok, but I didn't really enjoy it...

[Achim]

Now, my vote would be for Crash, im glad it won, I love Crash, it reminds me of Magnolia, which I have said before is my favourite film, I love the ensemble cast style used... (I often use an ensemble cast style in my own scripts and short films.)

Crash is the only one I have seen and I enjoyed it for the same reasons as Emma. I just like big ensemble pieces with multiple story threads that are connected and influence each other.

Magnolia is another one (yes, it's already mentioned, but I like it too ) or Robert Altman's Short Cuts. To some extent also The Player or Boogie Nights, although those two are slightly more fixed on a central character.

[snowcat]

:p Achim, I love Boogie Nights too... and id agree that it is very similar in ensemble style ;P