Comments on: Oscars: Can MAN ON WIRE Lose?

By: Tapley for Tool

Tapley for Tool — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:42:03 +0000

Kris Tapley is a tool of the highest order, and I say that as someone whom knows his action first hand

By: Branden Renfro

Branden Renfro — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:08:57 +0000

I don’t think that Man on Wire is a shoo-in for the Oscar. Like last year, people thought that “No End In Sight” would win. I thought that “Taxi to the Dark Side” was way better.

I think that “Encounters” has a shot, but I think that “Trouble the Water” would win overall.

By: Mark Young

Mark Young — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:55:08 +0000

If Spike Lee’s 4 LITTLE GIRLS could lose in 1999, anything can happen this year.

By: James McNally

James McNally — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:49:14 +0000

Oh, I really hope there ISN’T an upset in docs. It’s the only category where I’ve seen any of the films this year. And I think Man on Wire deserves to win handily. I found it mesmerizing, moving, and utterly unique.

By: Christopher Campbell

Christopher Campbell — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:45:13 +0000

I actually didn’t mean that Trouble the Water is bad filmmaking, just that its cause is more sympathy-friendly to Academy voters. I actually like the film a good deal, but I do love Herzog and Marsh’s films a lot more, so I think it’s a shame they’d lose because they don’t really further causes of any kind.

By: John M

John M — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:12:03 +0000

What’s with Spout’s formal vagaries? I tend to think this is a good crop of documentaries, and don’t really have a dog in this.

But would Christopher Campbell like to elaborate on his comments on the “filmmaking” in TROUBLE THE WATER? A great deal of TROUBLE THE WATER is from the subject’s point of view…that was kind of the point. Wobbly or not, it’s her camera. It’s this approach that does make it somewhat more “original” than, say, MAN ON WIRE, which, as beautiful as it was, didn’t exactly take a new approach (re-enactments, talking heads, zoom-pan stills, etc.) to telling a true story.

By: Christopher Campbell

Christopher Campbell — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:41:04 +0000

I’d love to see anything but Trouble the Water win (though The Betrayal and The Garden are two of maybe five Oscar-nominated features I haven’t yet seen, so I can’t totally be in their favor). But my prediction is for Trouble to win, if only because it’s the one doc in the crop I think most voters will have that much-needed sympathy feeling for. Never forget that most people unfortunately value a doc’s worth on the cause more than on the filmmaking.