I've not been hearing very good things about the film, the trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) impressed me. A U2 song has seldom been so powerfully used. Readers, any thoughts?
The song does work well in the trailer, but overall the whole thing feels really overly sentimental. I'm going to have to see the film for myself to understand why it's not been well-recieved. By nearly every account, it in no way deserves a best picture nomination.
@Ruth: I agree, trailers at times can be too sentimental. I think "We Need to Talk about Kevin" should have recieved the best picture nom instead. Daldry's previous 2 outings as director, The Hours and The Reader are very strong in my opinion, and that's probably why his film got nominated
@Sati: Maybe the director did the best he could with the script he had to work with, who knows.
I'm currently reading the book, and I'm enjoying it. The film hasn't opened here in Australia yet, but I'll go as soon as it does based on the book and the nomination. I hate to say it, but the nom could have a lot to do with it being a post 9/11 story. Americans can get scary patriotic about that stuff.
@Lisa Thatcher: Thanks for stopping by. Its tough for me not to be influenced by the negative press for Daldry's new release, all I can say is I loved his last two films. Not sure if other 9/11 films have received nominations, but you make a good point about the patriotic nature of Americans. I've read Extremely loud.. by Safran Foer, interested to see how they manage to bring to life the boy's wild imagination, which are the best parts of the novel for me! Will look out for your review of the book and/or film. Need to listen to Leonard Cohen's latest a few times before I make my mind up what I think. The closest I got to seeing Leonard is a live DVD, I'm jealous you got to see him! See you around in the blogosphere ( :
The song does work well in the trailer, but overall the whole thing feels really overly sentimental. I'm going to have to see the film for myself to understand why it's not been well-recieved. By nearly every account, it in no way deserves a best picture nomination.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive trailer and I suspect it's much better than the movie itself :)
ReplyDelete@Ruth: I agree, trailers at times can be too sentimental. I think "We Need to Talk about Kevin" should have recieved the best picture nom instead. Daldry's previous 2 outings as director, The Hours and The Reader are very strong in my opinion, and that's probably why his film got nominated
ReplyDelete@Sati: Maybe the director did the best he could with the script he had to work with, who knows.
I'm currently reading the book, and I'm enjoying it. The film hasn't opened here in Australia yet, but I'll go as soon as it does based on the book and the nomination. I hate to say it, but the nom could have a lot to do with it being a post 9/11 story.
ReplyDeleteAmericans can get scary patriotic about that stuff.
@Lisa Thatcher: Thanks for stopping by. Its tough for me not to be influenced by the negative press for Daldry's new release, all I can say is I loved his last two films.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if other 9/11 films have received nominations, but you make a good point about the patriotic nature of Americans.
I've read Extremely loud.. by Safran Foer, interested to see how they manage to bring to life the boy's wild imagination, which are the best parts of the novel for me! Will look out for your review of the book and/or film.
Need to listen to Leonard Cohen's latest a few times before I make my mind up what I think. The closest I got to seeing Leonard is a live DVD, I'm jealous you got to see him! See you around in the blogosphere ( :