Avatar
NASTINCHKA: Creating a futuristic atmosphere without rendering every frame instantly hokey isn't easy. Much appreciated here.
LIVIA: I'm going to put aside everything else I have to say about this movie and try just to focus on this specific nomination. In terms of art direction, Avatar is a superior film.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
NASTINCHKA: If Imaginarium takes anything home it'll be this one, only they won't be taking it home, because, Avatar.
Nine
NASTINCHKA: Musicals get nominated here. Even terrible ones. It's science. That don't make it right.
LIVIA: OH MY DEAR LORD. Is this some kind of sick joke? I really can't comprehend that anybody would nominate this festering maggot of a film for any kind of award. I'm sure it took a lot of art direction for Penelope Cruz to put her leg over her head like a fucking whore.
Sherlock Holmes
LIVIA: Flawed but fun, this movie really excelled in creating the atmosphere of Holmes' London. The amount of detail put into the production was fabulous.
NASTINCHKA: OK, WHAT. The chambers, I'll give them, but the rest just seemed like so much potting soil smeared about so many backlot warehouses.
The Young Victoria
NASTINCHKA: Hey, check it out, a period piece with an art direction nomination! See scorn below.
LIVIA: Haven't seen it, because we can't decide whether or not it's going to be a treacle-filled good time or a celluloid abortion like Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
EGREGIOUS AND AGGRAVATING SNUB
NASTINCHKA: The Box. Stay with me for a second here: I think it's a lot harder to pull off a period piece from the last half-century or so than it is to run off to a castle and dress everyone in corsets. Instead, you've got to think of street signs, car makes and models, wallpaper. The Box is gorgeous and was completely shut out of nominations and that enrages me to the point of a very real temper tantrum.
WINNER: Avatar.
Posted by Nastinchka at March 6, 2010 06:12 PM