Oscars 2013

[rebecca]

Daniel Day-Lewis's acceptance speech was exceptionally good, I thought. Generous, graceful and actually interesting to listen to all the way through! And he turned in a fine performance in "Lincoln"

I haven't seen Lincoln yet, but will do once it is released on DVD. I thought Daniel was eloquent and also funny, well he made me chuckle as well as Meryl. But I still feel sorry for Hugh.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has landed an Academy Award for its visual effects team at a pre-Oscars ceremony in California.

I have to admit though I watched it all, my eyes do glaze over with the technical side. I think for costume design Anna Karenina won something? Not sure though. Has anyone seen this version yet and what is it like? I ask because I am not a great fan of Keira Knightley(sp?).

I was just so glad that Anne won, but that dress she wore was very unfortunate choice

I didn't like the dress she chose; with so much choice I wondered why she went for something so plain and dull? As for Argo I will be watching it this weekend!

I was surprised that Zero Dark Thirty didn't take any of the big awards. I did like Jessica Chastain's dress, very simple old hollywood style classic, with the Veronica Lake style hair.

And Catherine Zeta Jones also belted out her number really well....

Now I can't wait to see all the movies mentioned.

Bec

[Margaret]

I think for costume design Anna Karenina won something? Not sure though. Has anyone seen this version yet and what is it like? I ask because I am not a great fan of Keira Knightley(sp?).

Yes, I did see Anna Karenina and enjoyed it very much. The film is done in the style of a stage play which would normally have put me off a bit, but I found the film so visually stunning (and certain of the effects could only be achieved in this stylized way) that in this case it didn't bother me at all. And the acting was very good, so I was drawn into the story. I was never a fan of Keira Knightley's acting before this, although she's certainly very beautiful and therefore pleasant to watch. In Anna Karenina, though, she swept me away. She seemed perfect for the role, and I thought her acting was top-notch. Maybe she's just never been well directed before? Seeing the film made me want to read the novel again, which I haven't read for decades. I'm told the new translation that was published just in the last year or two is excellent.

[Pasky]

When I saw Django, I couldn't help but think of historical fiction and the interplay between historical accuracy and authorial intent.

As a filmgoer, I suspend disbelief when I watch a Tarantino film because I kinda know what to expect. Tarantino wraps important themes (racism, slavery, anti-semitism) within period pieces that also reflect his personal style---anachronisms be damned.

I was trying to think of an example in HF where the author similarly expresses himself or herself through deliberate use of anachronisms. I couldn't come up with any.

The closest I could think of was an HF/Fantasy mongrel: T.H. White's Once and Future King. White wrote of King Arthur with a modern mind-set, with the great war very much in his mind. For me, it worked.

Can anyone think of other HF examples?

[rebecca]

[quote=""Margaret""]Yes, I did see Anna Karenina and enjoyed it very much. The film is done in the style of a stage play which would normally have put me off a bit, but I found the film so visually stunning (and certain of the effects could only be achieved in this stylized way) that in this case it didn't bother me at all. And the acting was very good, so I was drawn into the story. I was never a fan of Keira Knightley's acting before this, although she's certainly very beautiful and therefore pleasant to watch. In Anna Karenina, though, she swept me away. She seemed perfect for the role, and I thought her acting was top-notch. Maybe she's just never been well directed before? Seeing the film made me want to read the novel again, which I haven't read for decades. I'm told the new translation that was published just in the last year or two is excellent.[/quote]

I've been meaning to re-read AK and so I will keep an eye out for the new translation and I will also probably watch the movie once it is released on DVD.

As for Tarantino I rarely watch his movies so can't really say much.

I did watch Argo lastnight and though it is a good movie I can't see how it could win best movie?

Bec

[Margaret]

I did watch Argo lastnight and though it is a good movie I can't see how it could win best movie?

I don't understand this either. Granted, it was a very well-crafted movie, gripping from start to finish, well directed and well acted (I usually find Ben Affleck to be unpleasantly stiff, but he was good in this - and a good director). But it had no particular depth - it was just a standard adventure-type movie without any special insights worth reflecting on after leaving the theater.

[Ludmilla]

Pasky said: I was trying to think of an example in HF where the author similarly expresses himself or herself through deliberate use of anachronisms. I couldn't come up with any.

The closest I could think of was an HF/Fantasy mongrel: T.H. White's Once and Future King. White wrote of King Arthur with a modern mind-set, with the great war very much in his mind. For me, it worked.

David Stacton was a mid 20thC Canadian author who wrote literary, historical novels known for deliberate anachronisms. I've only read one book by him but have a few others in my TBR. You can read about him here.

This paragraph from Wiki describes his style:

Stacton's novels are often low in dialogue, and his better novels are instead full of his witty scornful comments on his characters and life. At his best Stacton had an epigrammatic style and enjoyed a sophisticated irony, although antipathetic critics took him to task for pretentious vocabulary, a tendency to florid paradoxes, and anachronistic allusions (i.e. describing a 14th century Zen garden using phrases from Marianne Moore and Peter Pan). In 1963, Time magazine praised his work as "masses of epigrams marinated in a stinging mixture of metaphysics and blood" and suggested that "something similar might have been the result if the Duc de la Rochefoucauld had written novels with plots suggested by Jack London"[1]. His other literary influences include Walter Pater, for his choice of characters with frustrated artistic and emotional longings, and Lytton Strachey for his witty attention to history. Several of Stacton's novels feature homosexual characters prominently when this was uncommon.

I know there are examples out there by better known authors (though I'm blanking out at the moment), but this one always stuck in my mind as an author who used anachronism in historicals as a deliberate, literary device.

[rebecca]

[quote=""Margaret""]I don't understand this either. Granted, it was a very well-crafted movie, gripping from start to finish, well directed and well acted (I usually find Ben Affleck to be unpleasantly stiff, but he was good in this - and a good director). But it had no particular depth - it was just a standard adventure-type movie without any special insights worth reflecting on after leaving the theater.[/quote]

I agree and wonder what the Academy were thinking? I have not seen the other movies yet, but surely there was one stand out movie which was better than Argo?...I simply don't understand the fuss over Argo? Good movie but wouldn't bother seeing it again.

Bec

[Ash]

I suspect Argo got it as an apology for Afflec not getting the director nomination. I thought Life of Pi a much much better film. Tho actually there is another movie that wasn't nominated that was even better - Moonrise Kingdom. I don't get that at all; It was easily the best of the bunch.