That's most actors out of consideration anyway.

Oscars are a mixed bag of the worthy, baffling and just plain unworthy - news at 11.

But it's not a debate for AICN talkbacks. What bugs me is that Kings, which really is a great movie, deserved a nomination at the very least, but it's been overlooked.

Regarding 300 though, aside from VFX, I don't think it deserved nominations. It's pretty standard popcorn action, with overused slo-mo, a script that was lifted straight from the comic, and not suitable for movies, telling the story in soundbytes and catchphrases rather than well thought out dialogue

The only thing that sets 300 apart is the Greenscreen shoot used to make ancient Greece look like the comic, but that's hardly new. Sin City also had a greenscreen shoot and did a much better job in my opinion.

300 wasn't shit...but it was a pretty standard popcorn action movie, nothing special.

Speaking of Sony Imageworks though...remember the cgi Justice League rumour that hit IESB a few months ago? I started that rumour. I made it up and sent it into IESB - and they ran it despite me being an untested and unproven source. What's the lesson here? IESB will run any old shit.

The dialogue was awful. Nothing but soundbytes and catchphrases, that may have worked in the comic because of the nature of the medium, but for a movie, it was nothing more than guys screaming these catchphrases every few minutes.

I didn't say the action was sub standard. I said it was standard popcorn movie stuff, though if anything, it suffers because of the overuse of slo-mo.

300 is a popcorn action movie in the truest sense of the word...it's a comic book version of Rambo...you don't watch a Rambo movie to learn about the characters internal angst...you watch it to see the shit hit the fan, so you can cheer and shout as the blood flies. 300 was no different.

Enjoyable? Yes, absolutely...it's a movie to watch with a few beers, surrounded by friends, getting drunk and cheering at each beheading.

But groundbreaking? Certainly not.

I can't comment on Golden Compass because I've never seen it (and never will, either).

I have to say though, if Leonidis had taken them on all at once rather than one at a time, I might have been impressed.

300 was a fun movie, and effects-wise it looks cool. But regardless of the technique used, it's still just a popcorn movie.

You guys are confusing excellent visual direction, which 300 had in spades, with visual EFFECTS, which were not as spectacular in terms of development or detail as some of the other effects movies this year. That is all I'm saying.

Besides, your assumption that because it's mainly matte paintings (which is wrong, but still) it's not worthy of the CGI-heavy POTC and SPidey 3 reminds me of the TRON controversy, only inverted: because it's not state-of-the-art, tech-heavy CGI fest it's not worthy to win? I disagree. I'm not the kind of guy to piss on good CGI (as some reactionary people seem to be, bashing anything CGI) but between blurry optimus, Baldy McClane surfing on an ugly XBox jet and 300... I choose 300 hands down.

What bugs me about these kinds of fils is that there is no balance...the filmmaker tends to choose either visually cool stuff or story...never both. And I don't know why. Why not have both?

Look at Star Wars. Yes the Death Star sequence was fun...but it also had a context. There was a story behind it, you knew who these characters were. Why do people still watch A New Hope? The effects are severely dated, but it has a strong story and characters to back it up. It's my favourite movie, because it's both fun and engaging.

But if you want to talk about 300 and put everything but the visuals aside, again I have to disagree...the direction, the choice of shots etc was ok...but as I've already said, the constant use of slow motion in attempt to give it a "cool" style only served to take away fom the action. A lot of the techniques used were done in the Matrix (and utilised better back then in my opinion).

The slo mo really killed the action for me...bad direction.

Plus, love him or hate him, Jar Jar was pretty revolutionary...moreso than the Matrix effects. Jar Jar and Watto lead to Gollum and ultimately Davy Jones and Optimus. (Both done by ILM, while Gollum was done by WETA).

In terms of the advancement of visual effects, the most hated Star Wars character ever is actually the most important and ILM deserved the Oscar for that alone...but it was given to Matrix.

You talk about shot direction and how the action was visually cool, but as I said, for me, the slo-mo ruined that. If the slo mo technique had been used less often, instead of every single scene, I might have agreed with you.

That scene with the video message to Homer was heart wenching, especially for someone who grew up with The Simpsons, like I did.

She actually recorded that speech over 100 times to get it right.

As for the slo-mo in 300 I respectfully disagree. It's not your usual John Woo rip-off, it was more like a meaningful take on the long Old Boy travelling, and really transcended the nature of the source material in my humble opinion.

ESC were created precisely for the matrix sequels, mostly for the Burly Brawl.

But even if the Matrix guys wanted to go with ILM, Lucas had his best guys working on Star Wars, and WETA wasn't really established as a top class effects house yet.

watched it 2 days ago and thought,holly shit it looks good!

It seems some of you guys cant get over the Fact that Matrix was the BIG thing in 99 while most people to this day laugh at Episode 1(I like EP1).

And Episode one had much more sfx people working on it.The Matrix had a small group of sfx guys led by John Gaeta who did some new shit(far more edgy and cool looking sfx then Episode 1).

Thats all,thank you.

jar jar was trully revolutionary. While there had been cgi characters before him, they were never right in front of the camera as main characters.

You may hate Jar Jar, and that's fine...but Jar Jar was far more important in terms of advancing effects than anything Matrix ever did.

If you like it, that's fine, I'm not here to change opinions, I'm just expressing how I feel about it, the same as you are.

Jeebsus!

Some of the Phantom Menace effects also haven't aged well (shot of Jar Jar jumping into the water) but look at the podrace. That still holds up incredibly well.

You are right about ILM's Davey Jones and Optimus Prime, however. Currently, those are THE character models to beat.

They really don't need to award this crappy and annoyingly sickening modern action cinema editing style.

Fracking Academy...

The difference between them is that ILM creates a lot of revolutionary techniques...and then WETA improve on them. And then ILM come back and improve again, while creating more pioneering effects.

WETA's work, while amazing, isn't pioneering...they simply try to improve on the work that ILM starts. ILM have been, and still are the real pioneers of the industry, and right now there's no one better. Jones and Optimus are proof of that.

This time next year, WETA's effects may look better, but they will still be based on the work of ILM.

Davy Jones on the other hand....damn that was some awesome work...and ILM won the Oscar for it (though the compositing work on the Kraken was terrible).

Gollum looked great..but again, Jar Jar came before it..ILM are the pioneers of the industry and ontinue to be that....all the computer articles say it :P

And I watched the Reloaded car chase in HD and it looked great.

I dont want to argue with some dudes around here,because I just watch movies to have fun and in 99 and today,Matrix is the better movie for me.

And that is a very subjective opinion I know but I love the Matrix Trilogy and nobody can convince me otherwise.I think that goes for everybody and their favorite movies.

But I'm a general film lover and film maker. Yes, my area is writing, but I do work in the more technical areas as well...so don't accuse me on basing my opinion on my love of Star Wars. I see the flaws in those movies, and I also love movies like the Matrix and I liked Kong and Lord of the Rings.

I'm a fan of movies in general and the fact that you dismiss my opinion out of hand simply because I like a certain series of movies doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in your character.

I'm being objective in my opinions, and that's what they are, opinions, same as yours, so before you accuse me of not being objective, maybe you should make sure that you're not falling into that same trap of fanboyism.

also, WETA are very inconsistent...for every Kong you had a shoddy looking Brontosaurus, for every Gollum shot you had a distintly average Elaphont (or however it's spelt) shot.

And for the record, I don't give a monkeys how "impressive" Kong was. It was still a fucking horrible film that redefined boring

Actually the shot from Clones reminded me of the explosion from Empire where the Imperial Walker blows up the power generator and you see the explosion through the viewscreen of the walker.

The thing about the Star Wars prequels though is that Lucas actually had hundreds of sets in each film. They all had some greenscreen, sure but that was because there was nowhere on Earth that looked like a lot of these places...it's not as if Coruscant could have been shot on location in New York.

And while I'm talking about scripts, how the fuck did that piece of shit Lars and the Real Girl get nominated for best script? Had to be one of the stupidest, lamest, most unbelievably ridiculous movies ever.

As for the Oscars: yeah, LOOK AT DAVY JONES. LOOK AT THE MAELSTROM. SHIPWRECK COVE. UP IS DOWN.

I'm sorry, but for all the locale stuff (everything minus Jones) no one immediately thought CGI! Many of the sets in the film were created on a computer in post.

There are many things about which I agree with the Talkbackers on a whole. Pirates is just not one of them...

me an "hater",because I like The Matrix more the EP1.You are one of those dudes who think that YOUR opinion is the ONLY opinion!Thats total BS.That is not OK man.

I love the Matrix Trilogy,but it doesnt give me the right to say for example:"BSB is a hater,he dont likes the sequels!"

Thats all

"anybody who thinks the Matrix had better effects is obviously letting their HATE of TPM damage their objectivity".

Try and read what you wrote first.

So much for being "first"

Are they fucking serious?

That was edited by a spastic child with scissors in his hands.

That's how much I fucking love that movie. Fuck JUNO. Kick that fat bitch off the list. Hand me a crayon and I'll scribble ZODIAC in there. Really. Fucking JUNO? It's ZODIAC all the way, bitch.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little tired or something. But ZODIAC is fucking Oscar-worthy.

by Ashok0

Canadian Bacon dude.. Canadian Bacon.

I nearly punched a guy I've known for the better part of 10 years in the chin today because I thought he was taking the whole "Death of Heath Ledger" joke too far.. I didn't believe him for a second (come on you rave on about how the Dark Knight is your most anticipated film of 2008, and that Heaths Joker will OWN, and the office prankster comes and tells you in a oh so cavalier way that smart asses tend to utilise, that the dude whose performance you're MOST looking forward to seeing this year has died... this is too much for a guy to take on a FUCKING WEDNESDAY WHEN THE COKE MACHINE IS EMPTY) needless to say that by noon (We're in Australia) I was saying "sorry for wantin' to knock you out", and ended up buying him lunch. (Make a card for THAT Hallmark).

...well, feel free to insert your own punchline.

Mr. Nice Gaius, nowhere did I ever say I supported genocide. You're a liar. Not only that, we all know fascism comes from the Left, both today and throughout history. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Leftists one and all. They're your heroes.

ELVIS!:)

REALLY

and I think Hitler was not Left,but lets not get in to that.

"I'm a fiend for mojitos."

Pfffttt. Fuck off.

Here's a little word to the wise: stay as far away from AnimalStructure as you can. He is one of this site's most loathsome Talkbackers. You'll soon realize that most of his posts are piss poor attempts at cognitive thought wrapped in some sort of circular political theory and/or monstrous delusions of grandeur. It's a mystery that he has not yet been banned considering that all of his posts were deleted just a few weeks ago. But that alone should speak for something.

:)!I read and heard some shit about "structure".His Hitler,Stalin,left...post above proofs you right.

But the MV thing.... we are not on the same page here BROTHA(Hulk Hogan finger on you)!:)

Mr. Nice Gaius - your name says it all. I love your dismissal of the film as a comedy, really shows either one of two things, your age or your taste. For your sake I hope it is age, cause you are one sad lying cuntly bastard.

Node - you don't want to know what a real psychopath is like, so save your petty bullshit you close minded twat. Female empowerment....you don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, it's hilarious. You love a movie designed for 14 year old girls in junior high that you yourself admit has plot holes you could drive a Mack truck through. Not only that, you think it is deserving of Academy recognition. Please. Go sell your bullshit somewhere else.

travis-dane - nice dude. Good to see someone here with some motherfucking taste. Hell, even Node admitted a weak fondness for Miami Vice. Good work.

The film is sub-standard Mann. One with unintentional hilarity strewn throughout. So, no. I don't dismiss it as a comedy. I EMBRACE it as one.

And ignore PenileStructures rants about fascism. It comes from a skewed perspective. When he says that every totallitarian regime was from the left that's only because he stands somewhere to the right of Ghengis Khan.

He is truly a horrible, horrible person.

That's just psuedo-trendiness written by someone with no understanding of the culture being written about. Bad writing.

Industry Killer! - Heat better than Miami Vice? Nope, sorry dude. And Collateral? Please tell me you're joking. The only Mann film better than Miami Vice is Thief, and only by a hair.

And Node, please keep it up. I just LOVE the fact that you passionately defend a movie made for 14 year old girls in junior high. Says so much about you, your intellect, your taste or lack thereof. Classic stuff, douchebag.

Miami Vice is an avant-garde action film, it's an experimental summer blockbuster. What a film! I feel bad for those that can't appreciate it's greatness.

The Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life.

The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.

Do these striking parallels mean that today’s Libs are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots.

You could argue, but you'd be wrong.