March 26, 2008

Has The Awards Season Officially Begun?

Hi campers, Joey here...this friday we may see the start of the Oscar race with the opening of Stop Loss, Kimberly Peirce's (of Boys Don't Cry fame)attempt at a movie involving the current conflict in Iraq. Early word is quite good, and we might have our first legitimate contender on our hands...

What do you guys think? Will Stop Loss be a Go with the Academy come the end of the year or will its release date end up being a Loss for it?

11 comments:

  1. As good as Stop Loss may be, I don't see how its success should be any different than that of the other Iraq films.
    I fear by next January it could be long forgotten.

    Check out the Oscra Nazi for year-round predictions and analysis.

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  2. potentially, but it's focus on the war at home, so to speak, might be a difference....time will tell

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  3. Like you say, time will tell. I think the release is too early. Even if it's better than the Iraq films from last year I don't see it going very far. People don't want to deal with Iraq.

    In the Valley of Elah didn't do well at all, and it was really about the war at home in a way. It wasn't a bad film, but it wasn't great. Unfortunately it's all Haggis, who tends to be very heavy-handed. The acting was good, particularly Tommy Lee Jones, who was superb. It's the acting that gave the movie some substance.

    I just think people aren't ready to deal with the Iraq war in movies. Especially since the war may be moving into Iran.

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  4. Yip, only time will tell, but I fear it could be forgotten by then. As good as it may be.

    You know why the films about Vietnam were generally well received? Because they waited before making them. The war in Iraq is not even over and yet people are being bombarded with films about it still.

    I think we are in for a rare early-on-in-the-year treat, and we should not expect too much.

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  5. Even if it is as good as In the Valley of Ellah, it will fall by the wayside, not for political content as much as it opening the season, much in the same way Zodiac flew under the radar last year

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  6. indeed....and it is very good, and worthy of some buzz...but the release date is bad...it does at least let us know that the oscar style films have slowly begun to trickle out....

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  7. I agree with Aaron, the release date is the nail in the coffin. If Zodiac can come out around this time last year and wind up with zilch, a movie with this kind of unpopular subject matter doesn't stand a chance.

    Incidentally, although maybe not for this film, sometime in the near future I would like to see some serious awards attention for co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and I don't think I'm alone here (fans of The Lookout, another criminally overlooked film, unite!)

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  8. release date destroys most of SL's chances. if the films coming out between Sept-Dec are not as strong as we presume they will be, then SL might (very small might) have a chance.

    But I feel like there will be a healthy choice of films between Sept-Dec that will make most forget about SL.

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  9. Well, I would definitely like to see some awards attention for Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

    Release date hurts SL, plus the reviews have been mixed from what I've seen. If the critics remember the film come time for their awards, it might put it back on everyone's radar. But if the Fall releases are strong, I don't see it happening.

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  10. While I am completely disinterested in seeing this film, I have the same question I had about Zodiac (which was excellent) last year. If it was intended by the studio to be an award contender, why the early release date? I personally felt that the studio wasn't particularly behind Zodiac last year and that it did better than expected. Remember that its box office numbers weren't spectacular, but it did exceptionally well on DVD.

    I think Stop Loss is being released to critical acclaim, but not because the studio strongly believes in its ability to be a contender this year.

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  11. I think that makes the most sense. Pity, because last year, with a stronger campaign and a more well-timed release date, Zodiac could have easily become a stronger contender.

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