Avatar
LIVIA: Look for Cameron to clean up on these awards, because he won't be winning Best Picture or Best Director. The last 45 minutes of the film alone pretty much locked up this Oscar.
NASTINCHKA: This movie is pure cinematography. It is a swoops-based life form, and that's not meant as a detraction, because that's clearly exactly what Cameron set out to do.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
LIVIA: I say this as a loving fan of the films: WHAT THE HELL? Yeah, you shot in a watery cave, and you used gray tones. Don't expect me to hand over the fucking gold for that alone.
NASTINCHKA: This is the ugliest palette of any of the HP films, and I say that as someone who paid to see the first two Chris Columbus Legoland-hued episodes.
The Hurt Locker
LIVIA: Normally I'm not a fan of cinematography noms for beautiful explosions unless they take place at Helm's Deep or Minas Tirith, but this was gorgeous.
NASTINCHKA: Making a desert scape look that intimidating and claustrophobic? Bra-vo.
Inglourious Basterds
LIVIA: Of all the complimentary things I thought while watching this movie, "GREAT FUCKING CINEMATOGRAPHY!" wasn't one of them.
NASTINCHKA: It's the most elegantly shot of all QT's films, and he'd be mopping up the technical awards were this film not released in the company of Avatar.
The White Ribbon
NASTINCHKA: A foreign-language nominee getting nominated outside the foreign-language category! Neat! As an added bonus, it's awesome.
LIVIA: Looks a lot like Jay's childhood: menacing, gray-scale, and populated with creepy Germans. When we saw the trailer for this, we immediately began calling it Kindern das Korn. If you need me to explain the Children of the Corn reference, we probably shouldn't be friends anymore.
UNFORGIVABLE AND OUTRAGEOUS SNUBS
NASTINCHKA: Star Trek (ME LIKEY LENS FLARES) and The Box, which displays that rare ability to summon suspense with a static shot. HARRY FUCKING POTTER?!
WINNER: Avatar.
Posted by Nastinchka at March 6, 2010 06:46 PM