What movie do you think will win Best Picture in 82nd Academy Awards?

[sapphi_snake]

rocketpig said:

sapphi_snake said:

rocketpig said:
I meant to type "usually" in the Best Picture sentence because I know foreign language films are technically eligible, they're just rarely nominated. Part of it is that many people just don't see them but you're right, there is an obvious bias in the Academy against those films.

I also agree that movies shouldn't be given a pass because of their subject nature (though I disagree with you on Ghandi, I really like that film) because I thought Crash was a heavy-handed piece of trash that dealt with racism with an iron fist (actually, I have the same complaints about Avatar).

I disagree about The Hurt Locker. I think it's a great film. You have a point about previous award winners (The English Patient, anyone?) but overall, the nature of the Oscars is going to pick some less-watched films for Best Picture because, frankly, American taste in movies is pretty fucking terrible. The most-watched films are often some of the worst and it's rare to see a movie make a shitload of money and still possibly be the best film of the year (I'd say Titanic deserved what it won).

I'm not talking necessarily about box office gross. It's also the importance of a film and the impact it has on the medium. Avatar is a groundbreaking film who probably has forever changed how visual effects are used in live action films to tell a story.  The Hurt Locker is just another war movie that will be forgotten bu this time next year. Remember movies are an audio-visual medium. The story plays second fiddle to the presentation. Citizen Kane had a pretty good story, but it is considered one of the best movies of all time today thanks to it's innovative filmaking techniques (visual effects used to create large interiors and crouds, special effects makeup, time compression etc.), though when released the movie was overlooked by the Academy, loosing best picture to the formulatic forgettable How Green Was My Valley.

Oh, and BTW Ghandi only won because it was a biopic about Ghandi. It was in no way better than E.T. or even Tootsie for that matter, and not to mention the unnominated Blade Runner.

That's where I disagree. Story doesn't play second fiddle to visuals; it is of equal importance. If Avatar had ANYTHING involving intriguing characters or an interesting story, I'd be right there with you cheering it on to a Best Picture award.

It doesn't. The characters are directly ripped out of Cameron's earlier movies and the story is so predictable that I knew what was going to happen from the TRAILER. When one portion of a film is so disappointing, I don't see how it should win Best Picture no matter how impressive other aspects of the film are, especially when there are other films that have a more polished and balanced approach to filmmaking.

I never said story plays second fiddle to visuals. I said that, in the case of movies, story plays second fiddle to presentation. I also never said Avatar has a great story or intriguing characters. I said that it uses visual effects in an innovative way to tell a story. It by far the most important movie to come along in long time, and it's filmmaking techniques will influence many future movies and will probably become standard. If you only care about story read a book. Movies are about much more than that. And BTW Avatar isn't even my first choice to win best picture. But I'd rather it win than some cliche choice like The Hurt Locker (war movie, no one's seen it, no one cares) or Inglorious Basterds (nazis).