Saw the FLOW trailer before WILD ROBOT the day after the election and have never in my life felt the urge so strongly to ask if they could put it on after the feature I paid for. Can't wait.
Our timeline is faulty for many reasons but being denied the opportunity to see LAST DUEL on a big screen and see it disappear from cultural thought only to get carpet-bombed with the sequel to one of my least favorite living-memory Best Pictures (it can thank CRASH and AMERICAN BEAUTY for not being at the bottom of my list), that is somehow already an Oscar contender is one of its glaring errors.
There have been some truly dubious Best Picture winners this century: A BEAUTIFUL MIND, CRASH, BIRDMAN, and GREEN BOOK all come immediately mind. I'd rank the perfectly fine GLADIATOR alongside CHICAGO, THE KING'S SPEECH, CODA, and THE ARTIST. These are pretty good movies but, come on.
Fair points. I'm not sure why I still carry such enmity for the original. Probably some unexamined (more) youthful rage I had at the time. Happens all the time here. Connecting it to THE ARTIST is more apt. A perfectly entertaining thing that got way too much tangible adoration. When the industry rewards itself for still making them like they used to, or whatever that is. Your rogues gallery is far more egregious, though the pretentious writing student in me that refuses to die still has some affection for BIRDMAN and I continue to have never seen GREEN BOOK. BEAUTIFUL MIND remains the movie I have to remember exists and usually only when I think Crowe won for GLADIATOR and remember that Ron Howard has a directing Oscar.
Still would love to see LAST DUEL on a big screen with a big crowd.
I do think GLADIATOR's Best Picture win gives it a sheen of respectability it doesn't quite deserve, and I say that as someone who loves it. It's a pulpy sword-and-sandals actioner with incredible production values, and I think it's more fairly judged on those terms; the BP win does it no favors by putting it in the same room with Lawrence of Arabia.
I am seeing SWORD HUNKS: A GLADIATOR STORY this evening. I'm tremendously excited. The original is the historical fiction equivalent of candy corn: easy to eat, kind of orange for some reason, and probably bad for you. But candy corn rules, and I'm amped as fuck to get more of it tonight. Abstaining from reading the review until then, but my heart tells me Denzel is gonna scream at some dudes while they fight rhinos.
I love FLOW so so much. It's such a special movie - that sense of exploration and discovery with the beautiful animation just pushes exactly the right buttons for me. I would not characterize the animation as crude; to me it felt painterly.
I have an issue with Gladiator that must just be a personal thing with me, because I don’t see others complaining about it: the fight scenes are poorly choreographed and shot. Closeups of a guy swinging a sword, no sense of the larger action, lots of quick cuts to another shot that doesn’t give you any real perspective. One of the best parts of a pulpy gladiator film should be the fights, and they kind of suck.
But yes, a perfectly fine movie that shouldn’t get anywhere near a Best Picture win.
Random question. I just saw that Josh Brolin says he will quit acting if Villaneuve doesn’t get nominated for Dune 2 this year (I don’t believe him, think Villaneuve will get nominated though).
I am one of the rare weirdos who did not like Dune 2, for all the reasons I don’t particularly like Villeneuve in general (looks great, feels cold, like a beautiful person with nothing behind their eyes). So I would give it to Gladiator any day, if only because it has the better Zimmer score.
Someone (maybe one of you) once wrote that there are two kinds of sequels: Rocky II, which is remake of Rocky I with more crowd-pleasing ending, and Godfather Part II, which expand and give depth to world of original film by continuing story instead of rehashing it.
Gladiator II is first kind of movie that seem like it trying to pass self off as second kind.
“This is GLADIATOR, too.” I love that you ended your paragraph with that, Keith. You’re throwing some shade. It inspired me to find the following, as I could not remember:
I didn’t see linked article immediately, but it is clearly the source for my list. Also, it’s a well written 2014 item by Christopher Campbell from the Film School Rejects site.
Saw the FLOW trailer before WILD ROBOT the day after the election and have never in my life felt the urge so strongly to ask if they could put it on after the feature I paid for. Can't wait.
Our timeline is faulty for many reasons but being denied the opportunity to see LAST DUEL on a big screen and see it disappear from cultural thought only to get carpet-bombed with the sequel to one of my least favorite living-memory Best Pictures (it can thank CRASH and AMERICAN BEAUTY for not being at the bottom of my list), that is somehow already an Oscar contender is one of its glaring errors.
There have been some truly dubious Best Picture winners this century: A BEAUTIFUL MIND, CRASH, BIRDMAN, and GREEN BOOK all come immediately mind. I'd rank the perfectly fine GLADIATOR alongside CHICAGO, THE KING'S SPEECH, CODA, and THE ARTIST. These are pretty good movies but, come on.
Fair points. I'm not sure why I still carry such enmity for the original. Probably some unexamined (more) youthful rage I had at the time. Happens all the time here. Connecting it to THE ARTIST is more apt. A perfectly entertaining thing that got way too much tangible adoration. When the industry rewards itself for still making them like they used to, or whatever that is. Your rogues gallery is far more egregious, though the pretentious writing student in me that refuses to die still has some affection for BIRDMAN and I continue to have never seen GREEN BOOK. BEAUTIFUL MIND remains the movie I have to remember exists and usually only when I think Crowe won for GLADIATOR and remember that Ron Howard has a directing Oscar.
Still would love to see LAST DUEL on a big screen with a big crowd.
I do think GLADIATOR's Best Picture win gives it a sheen of respectability it doesn't quite deserve, and I say that as someone who loves it. It's a pulpy sword-and-sandals actioner with incredible production values, and I think it's more fairly judged on those terms; the BP win does it no favors by putting it in the same room with Lawrence of Arabia.
I am seeing SWORD HUNKS: A GLADIATOR STORY this evening. I'm tremendously excited. The original is the historical fiction equivalent of candy corn: easy to eat, kind of orange for some reason, and probably bad for you. But candy corn rules, and I'm amped as fuck to get more of it tonight. Abstaining from reading the review until then, but my heart tells me Denzel is gonna scream at some dudes while they fight rhinos.
I love FLOW so so much. It's such a special movie - that sense of exploration and discovery with the beautiful animation just pushes exactly the right buttons for me. I would not characterize the animation as crude; to me it felt painterly.
I have an issue with Gladiator that must just be a personal thing with me, because I don’t see others complaining about it: the fight scenes are poorly choreographed and shot. Closeups of a guy swinging a sword, no sense of the larger action, lots of quick cuts to another shot that doesn’t give you any real perspective. One of the best parts of a pulpy gladiator film should be the fights, and they kind of suck.
But yes, a perfectly fine movie that shouldn’t get anywhere near a Best Picture win.
there are two of us! That's exactly how I felt about Gladiator!
Random question. I just saw that Josh Brolin says he will quit acting if Villaneuve doesn’t get nominated for Dune 2 this year (I don’t believe him, think Villaneuve will get nominated though).
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/josh-brolin-denis-villeneuve-win-oscar-dune-2-quit-acting-1236215468/
Do people feel that Dune 2 would be a more deserving BP winner than Gladiator, in a similar class, or less deserving?
I'd like to see it nominated, even if it doesn't win. the Academy could stand to recognize hard sci-fi.
I am one of the rare weirdos who did not like Dune 2, for all the reasons I don’t particularly like Villeneuve in general (looks great, feels cold, like a beautiful person with nothing behind their eyes). So I would give it to Gladiator any day, if only because it has the better Zimmer score.
Someone (maybe one of you) once wrote that there are two kinds of sequels: Rocky II, which is remake of Rocky I with more crowd-pleasing ending, and Godfather Part II, which expand and give depth to world of original film by continuing story instead of rehashing it.
Gladiator II is first kind of movie that seem like it trying to pass self off as second kind.
“This is GLADIATOR, too.” I love that you ended your paragraph with that, Keith. You’re throwing some shade. It inspired me to find the following, as I could not remember:
TEEN WOLF TOO (1987)
LOOK WHO’S TALKING TOO (1990)
Also,
THE JERK, TOO (1984, TV movie)
SPLASH, TOO (1988, 2 part TV special)
Just waiting for a second sequel to take it further. TEEN WOLF TOO, TOO.
https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-confused-history-of-sequels-that-use-too-instead-of-2-bac3dbb40fb2/
I didn’t see linked article immediately, but it is clearly the source for my list. Also, it’s a well written 2014 item by Christopher Campbell from the Film School Rejects site.