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jeremy
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:14 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
Inla,

I liked your list, though I preferred the opening montage from Up and the street scene from (500) Days.... Also, "That's a bingo," isn't quite, "Asta la vista, baby."

Its interesting that you managed to come up with many more powerful images than you did memorable quotes, which I guess is appropriate for film. It may be because I am not particularly visually literate, but I find it harder to remember seens[SIC] than words. And I also wonder, if as time progresses and the MTV generation rise through the studio ranks, us word-bound oldies are becoming less relevant. The visual rules, dude.

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inlareviewer
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:22 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS
jeremy wrote:
Inla,

I liked your list, though I preferred the opening montage from Up and the street scene from (500) Days.... Also, "That's a bingo," isn't quite, "Asta la vista, baby."

Its interesting that you managed to come up with many more powerful images than you did memorable quotes, which I guess is appropriate for film. It may be because I am not particularly visually literate, but I find it harder to remember seens[SIC] than words. And I also wonder, if as time progresses and the MTV generation rise through the studio ranks, us word-bound oldies are becoming less relevant. The visual rules, dude.
Yes, it does, and I left out the opening Up montage because that's virtually a mini-film to itself, and the dancing sequence in (500) Days, was absolutely memorable. Of course, so was Duvall looking like an unrecognizable human hairball in The Road, or Nicky Cage first seeing the iguana in Bad Lieutenant,, or the slow pan from engrossed Carey M. to intent Peter S. to barely-awake Rosamund P. to sardonic Dominic C. at the Ravel concert in An Education -- which gave any number of highly quotable lines, particularly, "We had a life before you came along," and "If people die the moment that they graduate, then surely it's the things we do beforehand that count" or "I don't want to lose my virginity to a piece of fruit" -- or Pick A Sequence from A Prophet, or Brad Pitt's "And I want my scalps" or the heart-breaking final shot of District 9, or the montage of Making Her A Star in Broken Embraces. As ever, it's all so subjective.


Last edited by inlareviewer on Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:35 pm; edited 4 times in total

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Joe Vitus
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston
lshap wrote:
Joe Vitus wrote:
Inlare,

Not sure if you know the answer to this, but considering the behemoth Oscar has become, and the fact that almost no one outside the categories nominated care about them, why is the evening show not reduced to Picture/Director/Leading/Supporting and maybe Cinematography/Editing/Music? The rest moved to afternoons like so many of the other technical awards? Has this been seriously suggested and shot down?

(and thanks for the Judy answser, by the way)


Joe - Interesting subject for a round-table discussion. It probably has as much to do with decades of inertia, combined with the desire to represent the whole industry of cinema, and not just the fan mag celebrities. I'd guess if you eliminate the mole people from The Oscars - the no-names who make the documentaries, write the screenplays, create the sets and shoot the films - then it's an admission that The Academy is a tabloid, and its highest award no better than The People's Choice Award.

Also, who'd dress up for a 45-minute show?


Crux of the issue: the Oscars seem to be unable to decide if they most want to be an award or an entertainment program.

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:53 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Joe Vitus wrote:
I do not have exactly the same problem with "very unique." In theory the argument is right, but "unique" is so devalued at this point as an adjective (and it's not a development we can control) that "very unique" conveys its meaning to me. As far as I'm concerned, meaning is the gold-standard of English, with popular usage nose-to-nose in terms of greater importance.


"Very unique" and "more unique" and "not as unique" are my pet peeves of all pet peeves, with "between you and I" a close second.

The word people are looking for is "unusual." "Unique" is unique. I hatehatehatehate it being misused.
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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:56 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
inlareviewer wrote:


Images?

Jeremy Renner pulling on the wire and finding himself in the center of a bomb cluster.
or

Sam Worthington's eyes opening as the title "AVATAR" appears on screen for the first time.

Speaking only for me, those linger still in memory, and there are others.


And that's my own "bingo."
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jeremy
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:59 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
Inla,

Maybe its because (or perhaps why) you're a professional, but I am astounded by your ability to sort and recount the things you have seen. Sometimes I think I must watch films in a daze. Is it because I've not trained myself to watch or maybe it's that I consume films in a lazy way; feeling I've earned the right to just let it all wash over me.

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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.
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Befade
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:00 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
Quote:
Am ultimately not surprised by the lack of Avatar wins -- hint: The Actor's Branch is ambivalent, at best, about motion-capture acting and CGI replacing eventually making them irrelevant, and guess who is the single biggest voting bloc?


Inla........Thank you so much for clarifying and for ALL your insider contributions this awards season. Please keep posting........you always love the movies I want to see!

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Earl
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:04 am Reply with quote
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 2621 Location: Houston
billyweeds wrote:
Joe Vitus wrote:
I do not have exactly the same problem with "very unique." In theory the argument is right, but "unique" is so devalued at this point as an adjective (and it's not a development we can control) that "very unique" conveys its meaning to me. As far as I'm concerned, meaning is the gold-standard of English, with popular usage nose-to-nose in terms of greater importance.


"Very unique" and "more unique" and "not as unique" are my pet peeves of all pet peeves, with "between you and I" a close second.

The word people are looking for is "unusual." "Unique" is unique. I hatehatehatehate it being misused.


Completely in Billy's camp on this one. The word "unique" means "one of a kind." It's impossible for something to be more "one of a kind" than something else.

But even though I'll never switch sides on this issue, I have a hunch I'm on what will eventually be the losing side. "Unique" will probably go the way of "incredible" in the sense that it will take on a new meaning over time. "Incredible" used to mean the opposite of "credible." Once upon a time, if you described someone as "incredible," you were saying that person lacked credibility and shouldn't be trusted. Now you could be watching the Super Bowl and say that one of the players is "an incredible wide receiver" and everyone would know you mean he's talented.

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Syd
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:11 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
A sixteen-toed man is unique, but a three-headed man who glows in the dark is more unique.

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Earl
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:12 am Reply with quote
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 2621 Location: Houston
I don't recall if anyone here other than Joe, Syd and I saw Paranormal Activity. Forgive me if I'm forgetting anyone. But I enjoyed the PA takeoff Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did last night. Especially the ending of the sketch.

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Syd
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:16 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Ghulam and billyweeds saw it. I don't remember if Marc finally did.

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jeremy
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:20 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
Syd,

If both the sixteen-toed man and his freakish brethren with the glowing heads are unique, then, given that they are both drawn from the same population, even allowing for degrees of unique-ness, which I do not, one could not be said to be more unique than the other. However, I would agree that the walking candlelabra would be both more startling and, given the degree of mutation necessary, much more improbable (to the point of being effectively impossible).

J.

_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.
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jeremy
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:22 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
My elder daughter, who sleeps in her own annex, was so spooked by Paranormal Activity that she spent the night in her younger sister's room.

_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.
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Joe Vitus
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:56 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 14498 Location: Houston
"Unique" simply doesn't mean what it once did. It doesn't mean "like no other" as much as it means "having individual qualities." The dictionary's haven't caught up with the change? Dictionaries are always trying to catch up. Eventually they will. In the same way that one might say "He's quite an individual" one can say "the movie was very unique."

They's just words, folks, and the meanings attached to words evolve. That's why we have such difficulty with Shakespeare (what did he mean by "get thee to a nunnery" anyway? Convent or whorehouse?). In Othello, the lead character uses "Me" as a subject rather than "I." Nothing's set in stone.

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billyweeds
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:13 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Joe--Of course you're right, but certain words are...unique, and one hates to see that quality lost by misuse and laziness. What is so difficult about substituting the correct word, "unusual," when one is tempted to be lazy and use "unique"?
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