14 Comments

Looks like All Quiet on the Western Front will walk away with the best international Oscar, but in my Bizarro universe, The Quiet Girl for the win. ☘️

Expand full comment

Absolutely, would love to see it or Close win, but alas that doesn’t appear to be particularly likely. It’s great though. Small and simple, but enormously powerful at the same time.

Expand full comment

No love for EO?

Expand full comment

I'm kind of surprised everyone likes AQOTWF as much as they seemingly do. It has some really good parts but also some real issues and yet apparently the BAFTAs we like "Take ALL the awards!"

Expand full comment

Yeah I’m kind of baffled by it too, especially all those BAFTA wins though they were similarly over the moon for 1917 so maybe they just really love WWI pictures. It’s great on a technical level, I can understand those noms at least, but as a story is just felt like it brought nothing new to the table even as someone who hadn’t read the book or seen the 1930 film. Why remake this story now? And as good a job as the actors do, I just couldn’t make myself care about any of the characters.

Expand full comment

Ansdthe parts they did bring to the tale (Look at these sinister officers being sinister!) just added to the running length and took me away from the story.

Expand full comment

Indeed! It seems the main theme of the book was about the alienation of war, whereas that whole section rather than amplifying the themes of the main plot felt like it was more about the futility of war, like they’d really just badly copied stuff from Paths of Glory and Gallipoli and shoved it in there, rather muddling the whole thing, including changing the ending in a way that weakens it compared to what I’ve read of how the book ends.

Expand full comment

Yeah the book ending is way less overdramatic

Expand full comment
founding

I saw multiple VERY negative reviews when it first came out and dismissed it. then suddenly it was up for awards

Expand full comment

Interesting I merely saw ecstatic variations on the word HARROWING

Expand full comment

I know they’re adding a lot to Cocaine Bear to make it a movie but I do hope they make room for the possibly-apocryphal-but-who-really-cares detail: that Waylon Jennings had the bear stuffed and put in his Vegas house for a while.

Expand full comment

And this movie could only be improved with Jennings providing Dukes Of Hazzard-style narration throughout, until he step in front of camera for that reveal at end of movie!

Expand full comment
Feb 23, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Your review of this gorgeous, heartfelt movie suggested it was more than half a star better than Cocaine Bear. On my viewing it was.

Expand full comment
author

I wavered a little about giving it more love. But as I said in the review, it feels proportionately small-- which augurs in its favor mostly, but is limited in its ambition.

Expand full comment