Academy Awards (Oscars 2023)

JP Liz V1

Jimmy Kimmel is back as host

In regard to Irish interest, The Banshees of Inisherin could feature in many categories especially acting, Aftersun for Paul Mescal getting buzz as is Jessie Buckley for Women Talking

Brendan Fraser is front runner for The Whale depending though how the Academy will take his GG decline attendance

Steven Spielberg's semi bio The Fabelmans also gaining a lot of buzz praise especially Michelle Williams

The big question has to be is Will Smith back to apologise and present as a past winner

I hate how the oscars has become such a mockery over the last 5 years or so. I wish there was a way back for it, but each year the shambles seems to compound!

FortuneChip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119962412#Comment_119962412

It's not even a gradual decline. But it is continuous.

Maybe it's the view from outside, but I don't see any way back because I don't think anyone within the confines of the circle know/care. They're oblivious, and have too much power or control to be held accountable for it.

Ricky Gervais will call them out for being hypocrites "Come up, thank your god, collect your award and F off". They'll appear shocked, laugh, and nod in agreement. Then they'll go back into Hollywood mode, and deliver their PR piece on stage as per.

Laugh at Chris Rock, and then give Will Smith a standing ovation moments later.

On the awards. I've been a bit poor with new movies this year:

While I've not seen The Whale, I would love Brendan Fraser to decline a Golden Globe, and win an Oscar - just because it's not the way things usually go, and he's always seemed like a decent sort.

Hope to see Banshee of Inisherin do well , and that Everything, Everywhere is in the conversation too.

JP Liz V1

National Board of Review Winners

https://www.awardsdaily.com/2022/12/08/national-board-of-review-announces-winners-2/

Best Film:  Top Gun: Maverick

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Actor: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Supporting Actress: Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front

Breakthrough Performance:  Danielle Deadwyler, Till

Breakthrough Performance: Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans

Best Directorial Debut: Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

Best Animated Feature:  Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Best International Film: Close

Best Documentary: Sr.

Best Ensemble: Women Talking

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick

JP Liz V1

https://variety.com/2022/awards/awards/golden-globes-nominations-list-nominees-2-1235455667/

Best Motion Picture, Drama

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios) 

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.) 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) 

“Tár” (Focus Features) 

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) 

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix) 

“Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) 

Best Director, Motion Picture

James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) 

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Baz Luhrmann (“Elvis”) 

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

“Tár” (Focus Features) — Todd Field 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Martin McDonagh 

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Sarah Polley 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Hugh Jackman (“The Son”)

Bill Nighy (“Living”) 

Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 

Olivia Colman (“Empire of Light”) 

Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) 

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Lesley Manville (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) 

Margot Robbie (“Babylon”) 

Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu”) 

Emma Thompson (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) 

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Diego Calva (“Babylon”) 

Daniel Craig (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)

Adam Driver (“White Noise”) 

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brad Pitt (“Babylon”)

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”)

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Carey Mulligan (“She Said”)

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Carter Burwell

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat 

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Hildur Guðnadóttir 

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) — Justin Hurwitz 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — John Williams  

Best Picture, Non-English Language

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 

“Close” (Belgium) 

“Decision to Leave” (South Korea) 

“RRR” (India) 

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

“Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony Pictures) — Taylor Swift 

“Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro 

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures) — Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) — Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler 

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” (Variance Films) — Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj 

Best Motion Picture, Animated

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) 

“Inu-Oh” (GKIDS) 

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) 

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks Animation) 

“Turning Red” (Pixar) 

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119962412#Comment_119962412

*breathes in*

The Oscars are bullshít and have always been bullshít and their dominance within film conversation and what are "officially" good movies year-to-year is itself, also bullshít. Not having a go at you ElRifle specifically, but 5 years? They've been bullshít for 50+ and when you actually tot up the movies - or actors - that have been snubbed over the years, one quickly realises that there was never some golden period where the ceremony was the arbiter of cinematic taste.

Just even reading these myself and I cannot believe Richard Burton never won an Oscar - that's insane. Or indeed Steve McQueen. Richard Burton, though?? Even the idea Al Pacino only has a single gong is nuts (albeit spawning the one good joke in Jack and Jill). You can pick a dozen examples of those kind of bonkers snubs as proof positive how his ceremony constantly gets an outsized narrative, every year, when it doesn't deserve to.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/films-oscars-snubbed-academy-awards-b2153130.html

https://ew.com/gallery/stars-never-won-oscar

https://www.life.com/arts-entertainment/oscar-snubs-2/

https://youtu.be/P7RTCUkvbag?t=28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119994577#Comment_119994577

Look I generally agree with you, but I would say the oscars while they had their faults, were generally pretty reputable and while some questionable decisions were made, good films were winning awards even if potentially better films were not. It was also always an enjoyable year event for me, I would get excited about it. And excited to see all the films nominated as generally whether they should have been winning or not, nominations for best picture were always good if not great pieces of work.

As someone who dabbled in film scores, my hero Ennio was snubbed for decades because he wouldn't take the lower salaries offered to American composers and wouldn't move to LA. So I know the story of the politics etc.

BUT, the last 5 years or so they have fallen off a cliff. We always saw liberalism, but the organisation went beyond liberal and chose to go far left which was a huge mistake because when organisations go too far be it left or right you start to alienate the majority who are mostly somewhere around the centre, and left or right leaning. By coming across as Woke and hyper sensitive to everything to do with black people, whether you would agree with that terminology or not, the oscars said goodbye to 50% of its audience and credibility. Jada Smith started that ball rolling when Will didn't win the Oscar for concussion. That is literally the day it started and the whole organisation had to change its policies after that and went so far as to not let Kevin Hart host because of a tweet a decade old he already apologised for. It went so far with that policy it ate itself.

So the organisation now is not what it was in the 90's or early 2000's when I got plenty of enjoyment from the Oscars, I would either stay up or download it and watch the whole show. Now I will glance at the results, and cringe when Top Gun wins best motion picture!

JP Liz V1

Golden Globe Winners

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63940721

bodhrandude

I was hoping The Quiet Girl was going to get a nomination in either the Oscars or Golden Globe, its a pity it didn't get a mention, I thought it was a beautiful and refreshing film.

pixelburp

This year's Golden Globes had the second-lowest viewership in its history. Excellent. Hopefully between this and last year's nonsense we can look forward to it going extinct soon.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/tv-ratings-tuesday-jan-10-2023-1235297098/amp/

JP Liz V1

Brendan and Cate took the top acting awards at the Critics Choice Awards

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Andrea Risborough for Best Actress then.

JP Liz V1

I think Adam Sandler could be a surprise nominee

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125426#Comment_120125426

👀

Brilliant day for the Irish, it must be said. That best actress category though.... 😬 I'm pretty sure Blanchett has it wrapped up, so it doesn't really matter, but still....

JP Liz V1

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

BEST ACTOR

Austin Butler, Elvis

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Paul Mescal, Aftersun

Bill Nighy, Living

...........

pixelburp

All Quiet is a surprise: wouldn't have said it made much of a splash, critically or culturally, that it might be rewarded with a nod. Might be that it's a generational update of a pretty timeless (instructive?) movie?

Of all the Best Pictures, I'd like to see Everything Everywhere All At Once walk away with the award; it's a bit of a nice surprise that it even got the nomination, but it was such a messy, oddball piece of entertainment it'd be the capper to a great wee story of (modest) success.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Delighted to see Brian Tyree Henry get a nomination in supporting.

The Sea Beast getting into Animated was a nice surprise too. I was still desperately hoping they'd see the light and nominate My Father's Dragon, but it wasn't to be. I'm now desperately hoping literally anything will beat Pinocchio on the night.

Nice to see Paul Mescal in the mix. Haven't seen all the films there, but of the ones I have, his performance moved me the most. I did only watch it last night mind, so some recency bias maybe.

I'd like to see EEAAO win best film for the simple fact it's fun. All the talk around a lot of the other nominees there has been way too serious, like Top Gun saved the cinemas, and Avatar is changing the future, blah, blah, blah.... give me rocks with googly eyes any day of the week.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151189#Comment_120151189

Exactly. Top Gun and Avatar get spoken off as the "crowd pleaser" but as flawed as it was I had an absolute blast with Everything Everywhere... Its goofiness might have been a high barrier of entry for some, but once it got going, had legitimately stirring & exciting action amidst the insanity of the occasional butt-plug.

Of course, the other reason it won't win is because like Horror flicks, Comedies rarely get the nod.

johnny_ultimate

It's a pretty middling best picture line-up - Tár is far and away the best of them, even if I do quite like two or three of the others. But I'm really baffled by Triangle of Sadness continuing to stick around in both best picture and director. The middle, vomit-heavy hour is great fun and Dolly De Leon would deserve a nomination (which she didn't get), but it's so wildly uneven that its runaway awards and festival success remains bizarre. Especially when you have the likes of Aftersun, Decision to Leave, even RRR out there failing to make the cut, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

sporina

woo hoo..

delighted about An Cailin Cuin

must watch Aftersun

JP Liz V1

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Ana de Armas, Blonde

Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie

Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans

Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin

Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Hong Chau, The Whale

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151302#Comment_120151302

My inability to finish Decision to Leave means I remain a little baffled why this is getting plaudits; the little flourishes of Hitchcock are cute, but just can't buy into the central crux of the thing, and even 30 minutes in found the thing beginning to drag.

JP Liz V1

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All Quiet on the Western Front

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Living

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Triangle of Sadness

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

The Sea Beast

Turning Red

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151377#Comment_120151377

I think Decision To Leave is a remarkable feat of filmmaking - absolutely overflowing with dense yet playful compositional and editing choices that are perfectly suited to the story it is telling. It's a film that took me a while to settle into its sheer assault of imagery yet I was engrossed once I found a way in. Far from being a mere Hitchcock homage, I thought it was Park very much bringing his unique sensibilities to an old-school erotic psychological thriller (albeit with amusingly little sex).

And in a just world Tang Wei would be getting all the awards - comfortably my single favourite performance of 2022 :)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151377#Comment_120151377

I was really enjoying Decision To Leave for the first like 90 minutes, but then it switched location and it just felt like an unnecessary extra film on top of the first film. Visually though, it's fantastic, and Tang Wei definitely was awards worthy.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120150821#Comment_120150821

I'd prefer one of the Michelles to win but Cate as always gives a tour de force performance

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151786#Comment_120151786

I haven't seen them all yet, but by all accounts Williams shouldn't be in that category. I enjoyed Everything, Everywhere.... but I can't say Yeoh's performance was anything special. Hsu's performance was the standout for me from that film.

Larbre34

Top Gun for best Picture and Adapted Screenplay?

Sorry what?

And what was it adapted from, the well known novel and Broadway musical??

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151819#Comment_120151819

Sequels are considered adapted works as they're based on existing characters and ideas. Hence why Glass Onion also made the cut in that category.

Larbre34

Very interesting, thanks.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Apparently the Risborough nomination is being investigated by the academy now to see if it breached their rules.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151075#Comment_120151075

Watched the first half hour of Everything Everywhere ... last night. Couldn't get to see the rest of it. It looks really good. I loved the first half hour anyway. Does it maintain that momentum throughout. It's quite a long film. Can't wait to settle into it tonight.

I watched about 25 mins of Aftersun last weekend. Really really slow. I switched over to something else after the 25 mins. I'm really finding it difficult to get myself to start into it again. There was a scene of him smoking a ciggie - which went on for about 4 minutes, and nothing happened, except him smoking and a little dance. Does it get any better. I'm not looking for another Die Hard type film, just a little more activity.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120165779#Comment_120165779

EEAAO is a lot of fun. I've seen people say there were pacing issues, personally I didn't find that, and I didn't find the run time at all. Maybe if I thought about it a bit there may have been some level of repetitiveness as it went on, or one or two scenes that were just there to be silly, but overall I thought it flowed really well. If you've only watched half an hour of it I'm not even sure you've gotten to where it really takes off?

There's no real action in Aftersun. It's a very slow film, where not a lot is happening on the surface. It's definitely a cumulative kind of thing. Personally I found it pretty engaging throughout and was really floored by the end, but if after half an hour you're still waiting for something to happen then it might just not be your kind of film.

Sad Professor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120164601#Comment_120164601

I can't get my head around this, seems totally absurd and basically a nasty takedown campaign. I think there's no chance of her nomination been rescinded and even if it was it wouldn't result in Davis and Deadwyler taking her place, neither of whom would have any chance of winning anyway. Feel sorry for Riseborough whose nomination is now tainted.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120169224#Comment_120169224

They've said if she was removed nobody would take her spot, there'd just be the 4 nominees.

Apparently there's very strict rules about campaigning and you're not supposed to be seen to be actually trying to influence voters. Which is why the campaigns are usually "For Your Consideration" campaigns, rather than "Please Vote For Me" campaigns.

One of the rules says you're not allowed to mention the competition and apparently there was an Instagram post that quoted a review mentioning Cate Blanchett. They've now taken it down, but it may be a problem for them.

If you belive the stories Risborough had very little to do with it and it was the wife of the director who spearheaded the whole thing. They apparently spent more money than they'd like you to think too.

It's all very messy really, and it's a shame because Risborough has given many excellent performances and probably deserves to have been nominated before, bit whatever happens now, this one will always have a cloud over it.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120169224#Comment_120169224

It is incredibly nasty. Whatever happens with this "investigation" her name has been tarnished, or there will be a "cloud" over her career as the poster above put it. Through no fault of her own beyond a group deciding to push her nomination. Let's not forget Ana De Armas either and all the abuse she has been getting.

I imagine what will happen is that the nominations will increase from next year in all actor/director categories to 7-8.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Riseborough gets to keep her nomination, and the people responsible for the social media campaign will be dealt with directly by the Academy, whatever that means. I saw Frances Fisher's name thrown around quite a bit, she was the one posting the exact number of #1 votes they needed to secure to get Riseborough a nomination, and she also posted about how Blanchett, Williams, and Davis were guaranteed nominations, which is apparently a big no no. (She also, strangely, edited that post after the nominations were announced to include Deadwyler in the list of actresses locked in for a nomination.)

Will be interesting to see if she actually wins it now, I'd nearly want it to happen just for **** and giggles.

https://variety.com/2023/awards/news/andrea-riseborough-keeps-oscar-nomination-to-leslie-investigation-1235507099/

JP Liz V1

If Will Smith can keep his Oscar after violence on stage at a presenter, this nomination campaigning is a storm in a small tea cup

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184745#Comment_120184745

I feel like Will Smith was a storm in a teacup, really. He's been banned from the Oscars for 10 years too. All a bit much for what was a stupid embarrassing decision on his part.

johnny_ultimate

I watched To Leslie the other day and ironically it's exactly the sort of performance the Academy traditionally does throw a nomination at - especially in the 2000s when there was regularly some tiny indie film represented among the big hitters. I do feel bad for Riseborough getting caught up in it all - she's a talented actress, and she gives a good performance, so it's a shame it's been caught up in all this bullshit. Didn't think much of the film as a whole though - exactly the sort of 'gritty' yet sentimental character study that were a dime a dozen not so long ago.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184796#Comment_120184796

The irony of it all is that these days actual violence is less important than the 'violence' of words. Whoever thought we would arrive at that point!

sporina

i simply adore it - have rewatched a few of my fav scenes a few times since seeing it in full..

and yes like someone said - was thinking about it the whole day after I went to see it in cinema...

tis indeed like a McDonagh play - but on screen rather than stage

Brief_Lives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184796#Comment_120184796

was he banned from attending the oscars or kicked off the membership? or both?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120197454#Comment_120197454

He resigned himself from the Academy before they decided their punishment. They then banned him from the ceremony or other oscars related events for 10 years. He is, as far as I know, still eligible to be nominated and potentially win the award. He just wouldn't be allowed to go and accept it.

Brief_Lives

gotcha

JP Liz V1

https://youtu.be/aGsXh_loS7k

Jimmy host trailer

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120151075#Comment_120151075

All Quiet on the Western Front best film winner at Baftas also for best director

Brief_Lives

Not sure that film will be viewed quite as well stateside, unfortunately.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120264147#Comment_120264147

It got 9 nominations at the Oscars so they obviously liked it a bit.

I'm surprised it won the big ones at BAFTA, to be honest. It deserves all the technical awards but it's not really that great a film beyond the sensory experience of it all.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120264456#Comment_120264456

Totally agree.

I thought Tár would get the nod but it attracted some gender-based controversy (a guaranteed buzz-killer). Isn't it more weird on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to honour a movie which portrays trench warfare as irredeemably horrific and meaningless?

As I said last year on the Netflix thread when All Quiet was released:

A superb production but the violence is stomach-churning and the narrative is ultimately unsatisfactory. It strays a long way from the book and loses much of the book’s power, especially because we don’t see the soldiers back home.

The final half-hour is a major let down - I expected it would deal with the problems of the soldiers coming home in defeat (not something Hollywood can portray, even after Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.). The sympathy I felt for Paul, the central character, had evaporated by the end. 

It is good to have a war film which does not try to justify the soldiers’ brutality by reference to a particular mission (Saving Private Ryan!) but this film lacks any moral context, apart from a couple of caricatures of Prussian militarism and German nationalism. The brutal futility of WWI is a valid theme and the shadow of Hitler is always in the background of this film but what does it have to say about war today, especially for Germans?

Are Ukrainian soldiers not engaged in a heroic struggle for their country’s freedom? If they are victorious, they will be true heroes. Even if they are defeated, their courage and fighting capabilities will be admired. What about the Kurdish fighters who defeated ISIS? Surely they fought in a just cause? This film doesn’t have any room for the idea that, in certain rare and extreme situations, war may be an evil necessity when even the lowliest foot-soldier shares in a sense of mission.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120266664#Comment_120266664

All Quiet is an anti war work though, written by someone who was there and witnessed the horror and returned to see how futile it all was, so I don't think they needed to come along in 2022 and adapt it from a "war is bad, but sometimes its not" point of view. That, in my opinion, would have been even worse than what they did do with it.

My problems with this film, for what it's worth, was simply how little I cared about the characters. I know war is bad, I know WW1 trench warefare was particularly horrific, I know the people calling the shots were not the people on the front line dying in their hundreds of thousands. Aside from a few pretty impressive set pieces, this didn't really have anything about it that made it stand out from a lot of other films about WW1. They removed the bits from the book and first film that humanised the main character. I mean, he could have died 10 minutes into this version and the camera could have started following literally anyone else and I'd have been exactly the same level of invested.

Of course it's entirely possible this was a deliberate decision, intended to strip all the men of any sort of personality to emphasise the fact they were all completely disposable and it didn't matter what they thought of the war, or how their lives at home were changed, or anything outside of them being another dead body in the mud. But unfortunately I don't think that's what they were going for.

Long story short, impressive battlefield sequences aside, there are a lot of other films set in and around this period of history that do a better job of being complete films.