I’m pretty surprised you rated Gladiator and in particular, The King’s Speech so favourably. I wouldn’t thought the latter was your kind of film. As for The Artist: see it! You might surprise yourself and enjoy it.
The King’s Speech: I like biographical movies (I also like to read biographies and studies about historic events) and I like the type of acting in the movie. Geoffrey Rush is a favourite actor and Firth can also be very effective, if he has the right role. I also like the English spoken in this movie.
Oh, The Artist, my another favorite! As far as I’m concerned I really liked The King’s Speech. A well-made flick.
I saw all of the Oscar winners last year as part of my 52 years project and, for what it’s worth, this is my take on them:
2000: Gladiator - 6/10 Has its moments but on the whole is all mouth and no trousers for me. Entertaining enough but not a great film by any means.
2001: A Beautiful Mind - 7.5/10 A genuinely strong performance from Russell Crowe which shows what a fine actor he can be with the right material. Howard is a Hollywood director par excellence so you know there will be some schmaltz thrown in but a good film nonetheless which remains solid with repeat viewings.
2002: Chicago - 5/10 It’s a musical so must be judged as such but even on those terms far from the genres best. I actually like musicals but this one didn’t hit the right notes for me. A couple of good numbers but that was all.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 5/10 I’m afraid I wasn’t a big fan of this trilogy the first time round and having watched them all again I liked them even less. Overblown, long winded and down right boring for far too much of their interminable running times. What’s more, this last one just wouldn’t end. I give it 5 purely for Gollum.
2004: Million Dollar Baby - 6.5/10 A decent film but not great in any way and Clint has done far better.
2005: Crash - 8/10 I struggled with a rating for this but opted for the higher one because I found it got better on a second viewing (always a good sign for a film I think). First time around I found myself getting too annoyed at some of the characters but second time less so and understood the director’s methods better. A brave film which challenges its audience and characters alike and takes an intelligent look at a difficult issue. Actually one of the best Oscar winners of the decade in my opinion.
2006: The Departed - 7/10 a good film, well made but would rather not see Scorcese remake someone else’s film.
2007: No Country for Old Men - 7.5/10 a good film but it was always going to struggle to match the book in my head. Tommy Lee is great though and everyone else do fine jobs too.
2008: Slumdog Millionaire 6/10 Entertaining guff and well constructed in a narrative sense but no more.
2009: The Hurt Locker - 7/10 Decent film but not sure why others find it so strong.
2010: The King’s Speech - 7/10 A good story well told and some fine performances by all concerned. Wouldn’t put it among my favourites of the decade but certainly a quality film.
2011: The Artist - 7.5/10 Enchanting would be the best word I can think of but something of a novelty package. I enjoyed it a lot but then am a sucker for an old style story of this type.
2012: Argo - 8/10 Much better than I was expecting and genuinely suspenseful. Affleck does a good job both in front of and behind the camera and support from Arkin and Goodman is wonderful.
To be honest I think it is pretty rare for the academy to pick the best film of the year correctly but hey, it’s just their taste versus mine.
now its my turn
Gladiator - i have seen it long time ago, so can’t really review it, but my thirteenth sense tells me its 8 out of 10 movie
A Beautiful Mind - common, really? beatiful fuckin mind? 5 out of 10 - same bullshit as Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile and Benjamin Button
LOTR: Return of the King - i wanted to like this wholeheartedly, but can’t… it is HUGELY flawed movie!!! 6 out of 10
Million Dollar Baby - i’m not into films about pugilism, even if Clint is in - but good movie anyway - 8 out of 10
The Departed - i’ve seen the original only partially, but it seemed to me kinda boring - nevertheless Scorsese’s effort is a joy to watch - 8 out of 10
No Country For Old Men - i love it on first view, i only like it on second view - 7,5 out of 10
Slumdog Millionaire - well, it is a fairy tale so what - 7 out of 10
Haven’t watch at least half of that list, and probably never will, only in a torture room I could watch soemthing like Chicago, or a Ron Howard film (apart from Apollo 13 a well told story)
Frost/Nixon is, I think, a very well acted film, intelligent and engaging. A lot better than some of Ron Howard’s movies.
Frost/Nixon - indeed, I liked that a lot. Also liked Stone’s Nixon movie and even the superficial Bobby.
One of my favorite biographical movies from the past decade, is The Damned United. Damn good movie about a damn good coach. If you like football, it’s a must (forgot that movie on my list with favorites)
As far as I remember it wasn’t that bad, but not good either. It was a not bad pastime, but not my cup of tea anyway. A kind of movie which more appeals to women I think.
Viewed four on the list which surprises me, and out of those enjoyed Argo the most.
None of the Oscar winners is in my list, and none of them was even in consideration.
I took a look at Best Foreign Language Film award, from there I have El secreto de sus ojos, but to me it’s amazing that there is not one single nomination between Gomorrah, Elite Squad, Memories of Murder, I’m Not Scared, City of God and The Devil’s Backbone.
City of God is so damn pulse pounding I stood up with my fists balled through most of it getting off on the life force the film was exuding.
Over the top praise but if you miss the Scorsese that brought you Mean-Streets-Taxi Driver-Goodfellas-Casino, City of God seems more Scorsese now than Scorsese will ever be again. A fucking great movie.
Edit: I think you can apply the negative opinions of Jesse James to The Proposition for me. I really want the movie to be a classic, I was underwhelmed the first time then saw the movie again recently at my favorite bar with some friends and felt the same way. It felt like an excuse to stylishly shoot violent scenes, which I’m ok with honestly but it didn’t have much else going on it seems. Both films were dreary and depressing but the FORMER film was just better to me. If have one complaint about AOJJBTCRF (I am desperately trying not to type that whole title out again) I thought the narrator should have been an elderly country singer instead of a voice that sounds like the old Encyclopedia salesguy from the 80s commercials. I imagine the film being narrated by Johnny Cash and it seems amazing in my head.
I Saw The Devil I thought was fantastic.
I’ll put it on the watchlist. I see that the director Jee-woon Kim went on to direct Arnie’s comeback…
[quote=“Gringo!, post:72, topic:3174”]City of God is so damn pulse pounding I stood up with my fists balled through most of it getting off on the life force the film was exuding.
Over the top praise but if you miss the Scorsese that brought you Mean-Streets-Taxi Driver-Goodfellas-Casino, City of God seems more Scorsese now than Scorsese will ever be again. A fucking great movie.[/quote]
Yeah, how City of God was misses is most amazing. It’s second only to 7 samurai as best non-english speaking movie in imdb top 250. It actually has 4 Oscar nominations, among them for best directing and story (+cinematography and editing), but was not nominated for best foreign movie ??? If the story and directing of the movie are great, what was wrong, why it is not nominated for best movie? Acting was awful or what? 
EDIT: I just saw that these nominations are from next year when it ran for mayor awards so they are some kind of compensation for previous year when it was submitted but not nominated in best foreign movie category.
I like The Damned United too - Tom Hooper was turning out to be a “damned” good director until he took on this Les Misérables thing. You don’t even have to like football particularly to enjoy the film: it’s a compelling character study with Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall.
Whats wrong with Les Miserables? Even though the singing isn’t perfect all the time, the performances were always strong, I thought it was a pretty great achievement
For me, personally, the muscial of Les Miserablés would be torture to sit through because the songs are so central to the movie/show that it’s almost an opera - and I don’t like the songs or the style in which they’re sung. Hooper’s next film will hopefully, for me, be more interesting.
The problem withe musicals is that no one could ever cope with the one made in fifties during the classsic period with Genne Kelly or Fred Astaire. Even those rock operas were boring.
Hey! I like those fifties musicals!