@hoorta said:

Well, perhaps to entice you, in White Swan Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis do engage in a little (or a lot) of girl on girl action.....for what that's worth. (and yes, it is there but only feigned at. Under the Sheets Colonel Angus)

@the-gipper said:

Exactly Gip. Different strokes for different folks. I'm strictly a SiFy action adventure kind of guy. And those sort of movies almost never take home the (big) Oscars.

Fer example "The Last Picture Show" (didn't even realize Jeff Bridges was in it until I looked it up) won a shit ton of Oscars, and I thought it sucked. Never have seen a Woody Allen movie that I liked- I thought "Annie Hall" sucked so bad it's one of the few movies I actually got up and left before it was over- yup multiple Oscars there too. Oh- it's competition that year? Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Needless to say, I don't give the Academy much credit, they go artsy-craftsy over Box Office Blockbuster every time. I suppose I'll get around to watching Black Swan and Dallas Buyers Club eventually- though the wifie has already warned me I probably won't like them.

@gftchris said:

I think sometimes we need to acquire a taste for great films, and never reach that summit. You know, chasing the dragon? I like Johnny Walker red but just this past year bought myself a bottle of 16 yr old Lagevulin.

WSS

@westside-steve said:

My whole point of view comes down to entertainment value. 12 years a slave, to me had little entertainment value. OK, the guys acted their roles fine, but as we have noted it was merely a graphic documentary on slavery. Without the graphic display of violence it could have probably been a History Channel/PBS program.

And the AIDS epidemic I guess was the issue in Dallas Buyers Club. I never did get to see it but my question is: was it entertaining? Obviously Hollywood thought the two actors in it did a great job.

I also note this: Of the Ten highest grossing pictures of 2013, only 1 of the Oscar nominated films were on the list: Gravity.

(of course that could be a function of so many of the Oscar nominated films being released toward the end of the year and not getting their full run)

Though Frozen...winner in feature length animated film was one of the top ten.

Nevertheless I surmise that their is a reason that the likes of Iron Man 3, The Desolation of Smaug, The Hunger Games, Man of Steel, Thor The Dark World et al are in the Top Ten grossing movies, and 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, etc. are not:

because they are more entertaining.

@gftchris said:

I don't think it's political correctness as much as it is political leanings. For example, you're more likely to get a film like Milk nominated by a liberal panel of judges than a conservative panel. Not that they're under any pressure or whatever to do so, but one group might look at that particular film as an inspirational story about courage in the face of adversity and another might look at it as having the gay agenda rammed down their throats some more.

I won't quibble about semantics. Actually I think both the definitions are applicable here. Yes it's an inspirational story about courage in the face of adversity and also a political cudgel with which to beat the opposition.

But it is logical that a group of people that contain a lot of gays would be sympathetic to that type movie. On the other hand I didn't care for twelve years a slave nearly as much as Dallas.

And I wouldn't guess there are very many African American members of the Academy. But it's politically correct to manipulate an audience into hating white people but not if the situation were reversed.

WSS

@hoorta said:

(personally I have a hard time picturing anyone except Sean Connery as Aragorn)

And I don't dislike Tom Hanks it's just that I think he's a pretty limited actor. Especially in the case of Captain Phillips where is New England accent wasn't that good and faded in and out at times. There is a technical side to acting and that's one of the rules. Does his charisma somewhat cover for that,? Sure probably. But it is what it is.

As I've said I wasn't choked up by the accent in Forrest Gump or the Coen brothers crime movie.

And you are most certainly correct that the academy loves a particular segment of society probably because there are a lot of gays in theater. That was my pager in college and I was one of the few straight guys and some of the classes. Probably the reason for my liberal attitudes on that particular subject. But it can be annoying to see a film I believe is not Oscar worthy nominated because of political correctness.

WSS

@westside-steve said:

LOL- Steve- I won't argue with you about Cate Blanchette being a great actress- but me and the wifie have a long running feud about her being cast as Galadriel in Lord of the Rings. IMHO, she's not drop dead gorgeous enough for the part. Though probably too young (mostly) at the time, I would have voted for Charlize Theuron, Nichole Kidman (& certainly Amy Adams) in a perfect world for that part. Cate got it because IMHO she's almost 6' tall, and it involved a lot less camera tricks.

@miktoxic said:

OMG. so in love with her. one of the bests in my time watching film. benjamin button for me was a masterpiece for her.

kevin costner for the baseball movie and 'mr. brooks' which is sooo underated. which brings up mr. william hurts.

btw. forgot all about chubby, prob cuz i see him every time i get up in the morning except he changed his name to denise.

PS Steve- I totally disagree with you about Tom Hanks- he's been shafted out of a bunch of Oscars. He deserved one in spades for "Saving Private Ryan". Seems like the Academy prefers (and I say this without bias) homo movies like Brokenback Mountain and Black Swan.

Meryl Streep is aces. I think I married my first wife because she looked like her.

I am not a homo...but I loved Meryl in The Devil Wears Prada

@westside-steve said:

OMG. so in love with her. one of the bests in my time watching film. benjamin button for me was a masterpiece for her.

kevin costner for the baseball movie and 'mr. brooks' which is sooo underated. which brings up mr. william hurts.

btw. forgot all about chubby, prob cuz i see him every time i get up in the morning except he changed his name to denise.

@westside-steve said:

A talent that left us way too soon! RIP as thoughts are with his family!

WSS

@the-gipper said:

From being his friend for years and moviegoing buddy here are two actors I know are among his favorites:

Boy howdy!

At least there werent a raft of producers forcing Pauly Shore upon the world in dramatic roles!

WSS

Keanu Reeves

Pauly Shore

Robert DiNero

Al Pacino

Marlon Brando

Morgan Freeman

Samuel L Jackson

Gary Oldman

Gene Hackman

Kevin Spacey

Gary Sinise

Clint Eeastwood

@gftchris said:

So, is he an Estevez too?

@westside-steve said:

From being his friend for years and moviegoing buddy here are two actors I know are among his favorites:

Keanu Reeves

Pauly Shore

WSW