Gladiator - 73rd Best Picture Winner
2000
#52
Starring:
Russell Crowe
Joaquin Phoenix
Directed By:
Ridley Scott
2000 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Visual Effects
Best Costume
Best Sound Mixing
Other Films Nominated:
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Erin Brockovich
Traffic
This is one of the films in the list that I've seen before, in fact, I've seen it in part or whole a number of times. The story itself is not all that complex - the life of a man, one who did not seek power, who was conspired against by those threatened by what he could possibly do. He eventually becomes something they could not predict - in more modern terms, a star - and the people grow to love him, even more than their ruler.
Maximus is a the leader of Roman legions who gains immense favor with the elderly emperor of Rome, so much that the emperor says he will be the one to inherent the throne. When the emperor's son Commodus learns of this, he murders his father, takes the throne, and asks for Maximus' loyalty, which he refuses. The new emperor then sends word to have Maximus' family killed, and after burying them, Maximus is taken captive and forced to become a Gladiator. He has superior skill, and with it, beats every opponent. When they are given the chance to fight at the Colosseum, he shocks Commodus by still being alive. This infuriates Commodus, who, after a series of events in which Maximus tries to escape to lead an army against the emperor, faces him in the arena. Even after severely wounding him, Maximus is still able to kill Commodus before dying of his wounds.
While the movie is a good and engaging story with plenty of action, I think much of the reason it won it's Oscar is due to the new level of effects used in the production. The filmmakers used actual footage of the Colosseum as it now stands, in ruins, for their epic shots of the arena. They combined them with new technology allowing for seamless integration of computer generated graphics and real images to give the viewer an overwhelmingly immense and accurate look at what the arena once was. It's interesting to note that one of the other nominated films that year, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, also used some revolutionary technology to create it's high flying, acrobatic sword fights, but even though that film also has an epic scale, it still feels as so much fantasy while Gladiator felt visceral and real. More than 14 years later though, both still are excellent films and represent some of the better works ever to receive nominations.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner
The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner
1936
#56
Starring:
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Luise Rainer
Directed By:
Robert Z. Leonard
1936 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Dance Direction
Other Films Nominated:
Anthony Adverse
Dodsworth
Libeled Lady
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Romeo And Juliet
San Francisco
The Story Of Luis Pasteur
A Tale Of Two Cities
Three Smart Girls
So...
I've had this DVD for sometime now. So long, I'm surprised Netflix hasn't charged me for it. Something like oh...seven months...
Why haven't I watched it?
Life, I guess.
And the fact that it's three hours and six minutes long.
Yikes.
Yeah...this one will probably take at least an intermission for me to be able to watch.
weeks later, I'm finally watching, mainly because I need to return this dvd already!
Ugh. Im already bored. Falling asleep.
Opening credits were nice touch though with the letters in lights. Very much like what they did back then for signs, very much like what is still used today, including at the Ziegfeld in NYC.
Oh, and the Wizard is his rival...
the next night
So this is a biopic, but focuses more on his rise to the man we know rather than his success that we are familiar with. And honestly, I'm kinda bored.
This will pick up though. I guess I'm just more interested in the classic recreations of his Follies shows than in the details of his life. As it is, from what I've read about the film, half of it isn't even true. But considering that his wife, Billie Burke, sold the rights to his life story to pay of his debts after he'd died, does it matter how much is true?
Interesting that we have appearances from both Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger, both of whom are most known for their later film, The Wizard Of Oz.
It also seems I'm not alone in thinking it rather dull for the most part and way too long. Was it necessary to be 3 hours and 6 minutes?
I think this one honestly won it's Best Picture because of it's extravagance. It's seriously over the top. Yet there are at least two other films in that list of nominees that I would count as way better films - Romeo And Juliet and A Tale Of Two Cities. Heck, we used a copy of the '36 Tale in my high school English class! (Thanks to my father for that, and for later lending the class a copy of the '68 R&J) At least that was a story with meaning, not just extravagant froth...
And of course it includes a black face number...
The "wedding cake" scene is still a classic. Just gorgeous.
Dancers should take a lesson from Ray Bolger. The split he does...just makes my legs hurt to watch!
I think that had the film not spent such time on performances, it would've cut the time in half. Each of the productions (no matter how classic) contribute to the time bloat of the film.
It should be noted, however, that Ziegfeld is and was such a tremendous influence in the history of theater and shows here in the US. He was one of the greats, always looking to make things bigger and better. While the other shows he had all in production at the same time - Whoopee, Rio Rita, The Three Musketeers - are not truly known today, Show Boat is and will always be a classic, one that is still produced all these years later. Without Ziegfeld, would it even have happened?
1936
#56
Starring:
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Luise Rainer
Directed By:
Robert Z. Leonard
1936 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Dance Direction
Other Films Nominated:
Anthony Adverse
Dodsworth
Libeled Lady
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Romeo And Juliet
San Francisco
The Story Of Luis Pasteur
A Tale Of Two Cities
Three Smart Girls
So...
I've had this DVD for sometime now. So long, I'm surprised Netflix hasn't charged me for it. Something like oh...seven months...
Why haven't I watched it?
Life, I guess.
And the fact that it's three hours and six minutes long.
Yikes.
Yeah...this one will probably take at least an intermission for me to be able to watch.
weeks later, I'm finally watching, mainly because I need to return this dvd already!
Ugh. Im already bored. Falling asleep.
Opening credits were nice touch though with the letters in lights. Very much like what they did back then for signs, very much like what is still used today, including at the Ziegfeld in NYC.
Oh, and the Wizard is his rival...
the next night
So this is a biopic, but focuses more on his rise to the man we know rather than his success that we are familiar with. And honestly, I'm kinda bored.
This will pick up though. I guess I'm just more interested in the classic recreations of his Follies shows than in the details of his life. As it is, from what I've read about the film, half of it isn't even true. But considering that his wife, Billie Burke, sold the rights to his life story to pay of his debts after he'd died, does it matter how much is true?
Interesting that we have appearances from both Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger, both of whom are most known for their later film, The Wizard Of Oz.
It also seems I'm not alone in thinking it rather dull for the most part and way too long. Was it necessary to be 3 hours and 6 minutes?
I think this one honestly won it's Best Picture because of it's extravagance. It's seriously over the top. Yet there are at least two other films in that list of nominees that I would count as way better films - Romeo And Juliet and A Tale Of Two Cities. Heck, we used a copy of the '36 Tale in my high school English class! (Thanks to my father for that, and for later lending the class a copy of the '68 R&J) At least that was a story with meaning, not just extravagant froth...
And of course it includes a black face number...
The "wedding cake" scene is still a classic. Just gorgeous.
Dancers should take a lesson from Ray Bolger. The split he does...just makes my legs hurt to watch!
I think that had the film not spent such time on performances, it would've cut the time in half. Each of the productions (no matter how classic) contribute to the time bloat of the film.
It should be noted, however, that Ziegfeld is and was such a tremendous influence in the history of theater and shows here in the US. He was one of the greats, always looking to make things bigger and better. While the other shows he had all in production at the same time - Whoopee, Rio Rita, The Three Musketeers - are not truly known today, Show Boat is and will always be a classic, one that is still produced all these years later. Without Ziegfeld, would it even have happened?
Mutiny On The Bounty - 8th Best Picture Winner
Mutiny On The Bounty - 8th Best Picture Winner
1935
#146 (2013)
Starring:
Clark Gable
Charles Laughton
Franchot Tone
Directed By:
Frank Lloyd
1935 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Other Films Nominated:
Alice Adams
Broadway Melody of 1936
Captain Blood
David Copperfield
The Informer
The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Les Miserables
Naughty Marietta
Ruggles Of Red Gap
Top Hat
So apparently I never posted this back last year when I originally watched the film. Sorry about that, dear readers. I suppose it goes to this not being one of my more favorite movies to have seen. It took me forever to watch it initially so its no surprise that its more than 7 months later that I'm posting about it!
1935
#146 (2013)
Starring:
Clark Gable
Charles Laughton
Franchot Tone
Directed By:
Frank Lloyd
1935 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Other Films Nominated:
Alice Adams
Broadway Melody of 1936
Captain Blood
David Copperfield
The Informer
The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Les Miserables
Naughty Marietta
Ruggles Of Red Gap
Top Hat
So apparently I never posted this back last year when I originally watched the film. Sorry about that, dear readers. I suppose it goes to this not being one of my more favorite movies to have seen. It took me forever to watch it initially so its no surprise that its more than 7 months later that I'm posting about it!
This is the 2nd of 3 Clark Gable movies on the list. Truth is, I honestly really don't like him much. The only 2 performances I've ever seen I like are It Happened On Night and GWTW and those have a good deal to do with the story, not just Gable.
And then this story. Not high on the list of any movie I'd ever normally willingly go see or watch. It's the kind of thing Ive had to sit through with my father.
And I think that's been the real reason I never got around to watching this. Hell, I'm typing this while just listening. Its already background noise. I've been stuck on this for the last 2 months. I've sent the disc back once and then put it back on my dvd list. But I've got to move on.
And God help me this thing is more than 2 hours long...
(Seriously WTF? Flogging a dead guy?)
Thankfully this was one story that I never had to read in high school or college, and it was never something we studied in Social Studies. And somehow I never had to sit through any other version of this that I can remember, not even the Errol Flynn. (And my father likes his movies, even better if they are silent)
Frankly, given how the men were treated, it's not any wonder why they revolted. The word asshole isn't even good enough to describe Bligh. Even sadder that he remained that way for the rest of his life, even court martialling those men he eventually brought back to England. Those that mutinied had a good time for a while, but nothing was ever peaceful for them, and most died in violence.
One wonders if the lives they'd had aboard the ship were really worse than what they faced in the years after.
On the good side, it was a well done film. I can see why it won Best Picture.
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