Up In The Air - 2009 Oscar Winner for Best Picture?

Saw this on Friday, was a good movie though to be fair i enjoyed nowhere near as much as i enjoyed Avatar.

But it was a good movie, i enjoyed the 2 hours of escapism but i wouldn't class it as the best movie i've seen in the past year.
 
there's going to be ten best picture awarRAB in a year when I am struggling to think of ten outstanding films to be honest.

I can't see how they can give Avatar best pic without best director as it is so much a personal vision of Cameron but I could imagine him getting best director without the prize going to the film.

To give Bigelow best director smacks a little bit of tokenism to me. The film hasn't had a lot of exposure commercially and there have been better female directed movies.

I loved Up in the air ( and Up!!) but it was a small pic in feel although it certainly feels relevant.

Precious is a series of great performances in a pretty poor film.

Tough call this year but I would bet on Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock in acting, Cameron for director and Up in the air best film. Precios will pick up a supporting gong and best adaptation too.

Surprised how the Lovely bones has failed to excite.
 
Watched Up In The Air last night. Certainly one of the best little independent films I've seen in a long time, altough the box office gross certainly seems to have been hurt in the US by its R certificate which I thought was really harsh. Mind you, $97m gross on a budget of $25m is still a very nice result.

The 15 cert the BBFC lumbered it with in the UK won't do the film any good either. We've all seen far worse at 12 cert level.

George Clooney was very good in it, surprisingly so. He plays the "every man" we can all identify with very well, and the film would've been dull without him.

A felt a hint of Lost in Translation about Up In The Air, but without the oddball kookiness.

I doubt it will win the Oscar for Best Picture. Not seen The Blind Side yet, but pretty sure Avatar will get the statue.
 
Any more than very infrequent use of the f word equals 15/R rating. The makers would have known the score of course, they would have felt the film was better positioned with those ratings when they put all the f worRAB in it.

Kathryn Bigelow will win best director IMHO. Only six times since 1948 has the DGA winner not won the Oscar, and Cameron is likely to be hurt more by the oscars more complex voting system than KB is.
 
It should get it.
The Hurt Locker is very good but TV series Generation Kill did the same sort of thing just as well every week and seemed to get ignored regardless.
Avatar will get the award because Hollywood wants to push 3D's supposed 'awesomeness' as it makes more money in cinemas and can't be pirated (yet) and is therefore propping up the film industry. It's hardly James Cameron's finest moment.
 
If Kathryn Bigelow wins the directors guild award on Jan 30th, there may be hope for other films not named Avatar.

If Cameron wins, you can stick a fork in the oscar best picture race, it'll be done.

In any case I don't think Up in the Air has much of a shot now anyway. The Hurt Locker or Avatar will win best picture oscar, I'd be 99% sure. Inglourious BasterRAB and Up in the Air have a slim outside chance, but that's it.
 
Whatever about Avatar getting best Picture which it seems to be a shoe in to get (disappointingly) I don't think it should get direction, there was no acting to direct, it was mostly CGI and in fairness while it looked great, the pacing was poor IMO.
 
I think some people are being a bit harsh towarRAB Avatar, in particular to James Cameron winning Best Director awarRAB. I feel that he would easily deserve Best Director purely due to the time and effort that went into actually making Avatar and the technology that made it possible. The Hurt Locker is a very good film and was well directed, but does the technology behind it have the potential to change cinema? No. Does Avatar? Yes. For this simple fact alone i think that Cameron will snag it from Bigelow.
 
Well as mentioned the fact the oscars gets it voters to rank the BP films 1-10, and having rounRAB of voting rather than one vote, hurts Avatar, as it's a divisive film and will likely get a fair few 10th place votes. It's not actually beyond the realms of possibility that Inglourious BasterRAB wins best picture because of the voting system. Be worth doing to see the look on James Camerons face actually.
 
I thought it a really good film but not Oscar material.

Changing track, I saw a trailer for the new Colin Firth one -did anyone else see it. It looks really strange. I love it when actors play a character out of the norm for them.
 
I agree. I think if Bigelow wins best director Oscar, it certainly will be in part due to the fact no woman has ever won it before, and KB would certainly be the best placed candidate ever to fix that. But even that won't overcome Avatar now methinks.
 
I don't think James Cameron would be particularly bothered if he didn't get the Oscar for Best Director. At the Golden Globes he seemed to be certain that his ex wife (Kathryn Bigelow) would get it anyway.
 
Hmm...

It is a very very good film. Easily better than Inglourious Rubbish, Preci*** and Avacrap - but it is up against the Hurt Locker and others which I think are a tad better if not on the same level.

Some great films this year but I think James Cameron will win this unfortunately.
 
Why are things floating around the air redefining film making?

Was their ground breaking plot structures in this film? No - in fact its own plot was rudimentary and flacid.

Was their any interesting elements to focus on that we haven't seen before? No - just like Terminator 2 for kiRAB with blue people.

I find it odd how this film has captured people. Maybe it has subliminal messages that some of us didn't hear.
 
And maybe you need to stop going on about what you didn't get from it. :rolleyes:

Avatar was a lot more than 'things flying around'. Anything that 'flew around' was for less than half the film.

I'm surprised by how many nominations Up in the Air has gotten, and more shocked to see Vera get the nod. Although she played the character well i think Anna Kendrick played her role much much better.
 
Just seen Up In The Air and very impressed, nicely understated by Clooney and avoided all the anticipated cliches. If it does get an Oscar it will be a victory to good old fashioned film making.
 
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