A really interesting group with two movies I've never seen before, one that I'm especially looking forward to watching based off what I've heard. This is also a monumental undertaking of sorts when it comes to LoTR. I wasn't sure if I'd watch the trilogy all at once or just the particular movie for this year. I decided to go ahead and just watch the trilogy because starting at the end or the middle and going backward is a bit weird. So this is going to take a lot of time!
2003 Best Picture
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Here we are at last! LotR finally gets the win it deserves and a win every one knew was coming for three years. Since it didn't win for the first installment and rewarding the second would just be odd, the third gets to claim the prize. A lot can be said about the fantasy series itself, but what about The Return of the King as a film all on it's own? The thing that always jumped out at me about this one was the neverending ending(s). The first time I watched this I was faked out quite a few times that this was going to finally end but then it kept going and going and going. It felt as if we were being teased and it was kind of infuriating at the time. Almost 9 hours of watch these films and yet we were being faked out with non-endings! That always rubbed me the wrong way. It's probably lucky that the other two films were also nominated. But RotK is still vastly entertaining. It starts a bit slow but does indeed have more great action pieces and becomes increasingly intense as it nears the end. There's also quite a few iconic moments like in the other films, so it continues in that vein. Unfortunately, this is absolutely my least watched of the three and for good reason. There's a lot that I don't even remember (and I've played the Lego LotR!) because it seems to be a lot of set up before the endings. And that's why the third film suffers in my opinion. It's a ton of set up for the eventual ending(s) and moves slow until it gets there. It also gets demerits because fuck spiders! And why didn't they just call on the eagles earlier? In the first film, when Gandalf falls into the Shadow he says "Fly, you fools!" was that a hint as to what to do? Anyway, the trilogy is amazing and well deserving of an Oscar and will be a classic for decades to come. Tolkien would be proud.
Lost in Translation
This is actually a very inspired choice for a nomination. Sure, Sofia Coppola has the bloodline to back her up but this is definitely not a typical Oscar film. I feel this was a sort of turning point for the Academy getting away from the obvious choices and the baity films. This is essentially an indie movie, which is surprising it could make it all the way to the top. It was never going to win but it's definitely awesome it was nominated. This is a thoroughly modern movie. I love it's use of music which gives it a very hip feeling. Sometimes film scores can get annoying with their hand holding so a movie such as this that uses modern music to emphasize the fantastic shots instead of telling us how to feel is quite refreshing. And there are many great shots of Tokyo in this movie. That's obviously not a hard thing to do given how beautiful Japan is but a lot of the interior shots of the hotel with Tokyo in the background are brilliant. It portrays that sense of loneliness very well and that overwhelming feeling of being out of place is made very clear. The story itself is light, just a simple tale of two people coming together and making each others lives better if only for a short time. Murray does a fantastic job of giving life to his character. All those elements (sound, cinematography, acting) make the movie even better in spite of the simplicity of the story. It's a very enjoyable movie to watch. The main negative for me, however, is all the weird, whacky things about Japan that are shown. It just kinda feels like a hey, look at this goofy thing they do in Japan and I'm going to put my characters in it. It felt like a list was made of weird Japanese things and they were all checked off throughout the movie. It drags the movie down for me but despite that this is a really good movie. I'm definitely glad that it was nominated.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
So this film took me forever to actually watch and not because it's a terrible film or anything like that but because I'd start it when I was super tired, when it was late at night, or when I was drunk and in the mood to get this blog going again. I'd get about 20 minutes in and fall asleep and then repeat. My big fear with this film was always that it might be a little too boring. This was a film that I never really heard about or even remember from back in 2003, so I was judging purely based on it being an old time British naval story. Not exactly the most riveting subject but Master and Commander proved itself to be much, much more than just a boring story. It starts off with a tense battle at night and it hooked me from then on. It mellows out to be a more of a day in the life of a sailor type story but both Captain Luck Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and Doctor Maturin (Paul Bettany) are engaging and a pleasure to watch. Aubrey is searching for a French ship that is preying on British whaling vessels and searches for it around the tip of South America. But it's way more than just a naval battle film. The characterization makes the film even more compelling. I think I read somewhere that there was some talk about making this into a series of films since it's based on a series of books. That never came to light but it's evident here that a series of films with Crowe and Bettany would have been well worth watching, they just have some really good chemistry together. It definitely feels like the first of more to come so in that sense it also feels like the story has more it could give, especially since we didn't get any more films. Master and Commander offers up some really delicious looking set pieces and beautiful scenes of ship and ocean. And it has a great final battle that is realistic and just as tense as the opening scene. This film was always curious to me because it felt like it was nominated out of nowhere to me. Maybe the star of Crowe (who continues a string of great performances here) helped buoy it to a nomination. It's an inspired choice and I'm glad that we are treated to a kind of throwback Oscar nom.
Mystic River
Another Clint Eastwood movie making it into the Best Picture field. The Academy really does love Eastwood a lot for some reason, even continuing into 2015 with all the American Sniper love. But anyway, I might not be the biggest Eastwood fan but I do like Dennis Lehane movies. Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, The Drop are all entertaining and this one is no exception. And I think that's just what those movies are: entertainment. You've got some twists and turns that you don't exactly obsess over like in an M. Night movie. You could nitpick them to death but, ultimately, doing so just doesn't feel necessary or right at all. You take them in and enjoy them. He writes really good characters and that helps a movie like this because Eastwood really does get the most out of his actors. The acting in this is mostly good to great all around. The story is interesting and compelling and the ending is strong enough to not be a let down. Mystic River is a very easy movie to like. There are some things that Eastwood does as a director that I dislike or that annoy me. Certain ways scenes are shot or the transition from one scene to the next is weird or the music doesn't fit or comes in at an inappropriate time. These little things that stick out to me are all found in this one. It's like Eastwood just does a little too much at times and his direction can be clunky. Those are superficial criticisms here because the story and characters are the selling point. I like it and I think in any other year this would have probably been your Best Picture winner. But this year belonged to LoTR and everything else was just competing for runner-up. This is a good, entertaining movie bottom line.
Seabiscuit
This has always been one of the movies when looking through the Best Picture nominees in recent times that I've always kinda scratched my head about. I knew it was a feel good horse racing movie but what could possibly have made it a Best Picture contender? And to answer that, well, I don't know. Yes, Seabiscuit is a feel good, saccharine sports movie about a racehorse. It's slick and has well liked actors including Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Cooper. They do a good job of telling this story. But! It's a story about a horse! So how much can the actors really influence this choice? Not a lot, obviously. I hated the narration for this movie. It sounded like one of those text to talk dudes and it was awful. It was needless exposition that said oh, we're in a Great Depression blah blah blah. I definitely don't like when a movie has to use a lot of narration to set up the plot or let us know what's going on and how we got to a certain scene. If your movie has to do that, then I don't think it's quite Best Picture worthy. It is entertaining, however, and does exactly what it sets out to do with it's slickly, safe production. It's not going to challenge us as the audience and certainly isn't going to push the medium forward that much, if at all. So does it belong here? No. But I can understand why it was well liked. I still don't know why it was one of the choices here, though. Right studio? Great Oscar campaign? Nothing else worth nominating? I'll probably never know. Chalk this one up to being included in a year with an obvious winner 3 years in the making.
I think that this was likely a pretty odd year for Oscar, at least in this category. You've got a trilogy that was nominated for all it's parts and was genuinely well received and brought to life in a non-cheesy way, a much beloved fantasy series. This was the clear and obvious winner after the first installment didn't win 2 years earlier. So naturally everyone else was competing for second place. Maybe that's why Seabiscuit and Lost in Translation slip in? I think Mystic River was a somewhat strong contender and Oscar was clearly eager to reward Eastwood again at some point. It didn't happen this year but did the next. And Master and Commander, well, it was just a cool looking movie harkening back to the old days of swashbuckling films and those big sea going epics. It is an interesting addition. One that people probably forget was actually nominated or was even a thing that happened! I'd give the win to LotR because it deserved it for the entire series but Master and Commander surprised me in how good it really was, as well. All in all, a pretty diverse group of nominees.
Oscar Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
My Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Lost in Translation
Mystic River
Seabiscuit
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