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The Hurt Locker--no spoilers

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ifyoucantfixit:
   I have the same feeling about this pair of opposing movies:  that I did about Crash vs Brokeback Mountain.  The Oscar voters
had an adgenda.  They wanted to make a point.  In this case, it was, they didn't want the people of the voting group to not
be able to tell the movie watching public, that they are not classy minded enough to make the decision of what is a good movie.
   They are not too happy with Jim Cameron for making so much money.  Against the little movie that nobody saw.  It is so
depressing.  The Avatar movie is a very happy and good ending movie.  That in itself makes it a weak movie.  In order to be
a great movie, it has to be a show movie for the director, and the actors.  Its the very reason why comedies don't get nominated,
or win major awards, regardless of the merit they may have.
   Oscar members are like the clique at hi school who all decide who are the popular, or the unpopular kids.  They make all the
decisions.  If they don't like you, you are an outsider, and if they do like you, you are a popular kid.
   A perfect example of that is the movies, songs.  They are relegated to non extant portions of a movie these days.  To the point where they arent even done in full on the show now.  The music was like watered tea.  Boring and weak....

Aloysius J. Gleek:


I haven't seen the movie yet. In the meanwhile, here's another, rather different, slant:


http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/03/somebody_from_the_hurt_locker.html

Somebody From The Hurt Locker
Probably Should Have Thanked Critics at the Oscars


By: Bilge Ebiri

The irony of Variety  firing its chief film critic, Todd McCarthy (and announcing that they’re doing away with staff film reviews altogether), less than 24 hours after The Hurt Locker ’s big night of Oscar glory was sadly lost on most people. You don’t need to have been paying much attention this past year to see that film critics have been taking hits left and right, and McCarthy’s dismissal is clearly just the latest chapter. (That nonsensical Armond White–Greenberg kerfuffle, however, isn’t.) And they were probably not on the minds of The Hurt Locker ’s team, who thanked everybody in their Oscar speeches except for, amazingly, the one group that proved key in their awards-season success.

Of course, thanking critics would be perverse in Hollywood. Because critics don’t matter. Nobody reads critics. Movies that critics like don’t make any money. That last part may be true, of course, since The Hurt Locker  didn’t make any money either. Apparently, the lowest-grossing film in Oscar history to win Best Picture, the one with no studio behind it, the one sporting one of the most disastrous releases ever, and the one made by a filmmaker whose previous height of awards glory was a Silver Raven at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 1988, somehow managed to become an awards-season juggernaut because of … well, what? Magic? Sheer pluck and steely-eyed determination? The messianic hosannas of Jeffrey Wells? Some have credited word-of-mouth, but usually word-of-mouth translates to some kind of box office.

That it was a good movie certainly helped. But lots of good, even great, films came out during the year. No, The Hurt Locker  owes much of its Oscar success, frankly, to critics. The film came into the awards season trailing a litany of not just good, not just great, but practically levitational reviews — from Richard Corliss of Time  anointing it a “near-perfect war film” on the eve of its Venice Film Festival premiere (in September … 2008!) to Scott Foundas of the Village Voice and L.A. Weekly calling it “the best American film since Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood  way back in June. (Our favorite was A.O. Scott of the Times  promising that “If The Hurt Locker isn’t the best action movie of the summer, I’ll blow up my car.”) Of course, that happens every year, with a film being canonized by critics and then falling apart at the box office and seeing its Oscar chances waste away; our beloved Zodiac  comes to mind.

What was different this year was that the accolades kept coming: Roger Ebert had already deemed it a “leading contender for Academy Awards,” and by mid-December, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association had all bestowed all their awards on Locker  and Bigelow, along with scores of other organizations . Meanwhile, the film’s box office continued to disappear (it was gone from most cities by that point) and numerous other major, much-better-funded Oscar campaigns (Nine, Avatar, Inglourious Basterds,  etc.) began to gear up. By that point, of course, The Hurt Locker  was already lapping the other films … on the critics’ top-ten lists.

To be fair, movies that sweep critics’ awards don’t always win Best Picture. (We speculated on that ourselves at one point.) That is, perhaps, the one area where the critics couldn’t help The Hurt Locker  out. And in this year of relentless critic-bashing, it may have been tempting to think that the Academy would deal them another blow by picking the box-office-busting Avatar  over the Little Movie That the Critics Like. So maybe there are two unspoken thank-yous in order now: the Hurt Locker  team should be thanking the critics, and the critics should be thanking the Academy.

Aloysius J. Gleek:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2010/03/08/oscar_backstage_bigelow_boal_talk_the_hurt_lockers_six_wins/

Oscar Backstage:  Bigelow, Boal
Talk The Hurt Locker’s Six Wins


The Hurt Locker  finally ended the long, difficult Oscar campaign trail winning six awards, while Avatar  won only three technical categories, for visual effects, art direction and cinematography. “I hope I’m the first of many,” Kathryn Bigelow said backstage, of being the first woman to win the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker,  which is also the first best picture winner to be directed by a woman. “I long for day when that modifier is a moot point. I am grateful if I can inspire some young intrepid tenacious male or female filmmaker, make them feel the impossible is possible.”

Notably, Bigelow and producer Gregory Shapiro both thanked barred producer Nicolas Chartier who was celebrating in Malibu—Eugene Hernandez reports. Chartier raised the funding for the movie from foreign territories and advanced money to start production when a bank loan didn’t come through in time. Boal, who does not get along with Chartier, said, “I think Nic Chartier is very happy tonight.”

“I would say to never give up on your dream,” said Bigelow to young filmmakers following in her footsteps. “I’ve been making film for a while, 30 years. Work on stories you truly believe in, because then no obstacle is too great.”

Bigelow also thanked the “critical community” for giving the movie “wind in our sails.” In answer to questions about beating her former husband James Cameron, she said: “All the nominees were phenomenal, powerful, talented filmmakers. It was humbling to be in that company, in that conversation. Jim is very inspiring, he inspires filmmakers around the world. I can speak for all of them: we are quite grateful.”

Fair to say Cameron is a tad disappointed tonight.  But as producer Jon Landau told me, going in, Avatar  was never looking to win any awards. And The Hurt Locker,  the little movie that could, will now get a much-needed DVD boost. Maybe Summit will actually make back the $5 million or so they spent on their awards campaign.

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: jmmgallagher on March 10, 2010, 09:05:11 am ---Somebody From The Hurt Locker
Probably Should Have Thanked Critics at the Oscars
--- End quote ---

So true! I myself saw the movie right after it opened, choosing it entirely on the basis of the good reviews I'd seen.

Front-Ranger:
Thanks for your comments, John and Kathryn, and thanks for your review, David. Yes, it is definitely a disturbing movie.

I came late to the movie theater just before it was about to start and plopped down in the nearest available seat next to a large man in a coat. He was so silent and unmoving throughout the movie that I started to get concerned for him. The entire audience was very very quiet except for the time when James pulled all the bombs out of the dust when several said versions of "Oh, shit."

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