POTC Slammed by the Academy

[Karl C]

The Academy Awards, what a rip off , POTC is one of the best Disney movies every made! Music, Costumes, Makeup, Special Effects, Location, Props and Actors. Everything right on down the line.
Sure the other movies were good in there own right, but come on, not a single award? It was rigged.
This movie is destined to be a classic. It told the rest of the story that the ride could not even come close to telling. In the best fashion Disney does so well. Walt would be proud.
Everybody who was involved with the production of this movie was slighted big time.
My hat is off too the entire cast and crew for all their efforts.
The night was stolen for you.
Long live Pirates of the Caribbean, The movie and especially the ride.

Swash, Swash, Buckle, Buckle
A Pirates Life for Me.

Karl C.

 

[ohanafamily]

It has been said that Comedies rarely win, and it has also been said that it is harder to play a comedic role as believable than a dramatic one, but hey, I am not a member of the group. I think it should have at least been in the running for best picture...

I also didn't like any of the songs that they played, and did you notice that they did a lousy job of picking which clips to show?

End of rant!!!

I did like Billy Crystal's quip about the fight between Disney and Ei$ner...

 

[Planogirl]

It was the LOTR's night and it should have been after three great films. It would have been nice to see Pirates win something though!

 

[Grog]

and did you notice that they did a lousy job of picking which clips to show?

You can usually tell who will win a category based on the clip. I knew Johnny Depp wasn't going to win when they showed that short clip of the fight scene where he didn't say much. It didn't show the fact that he did a fantastic job of portraying Jack Sparrow. When they showed an "angry" scene with Sean Penn, I knew right away he had won. Imagine that, Sean Penn wins for playing Sean Penn

I agree that LOTR rings deserved most of it's Oscars. The academy was making up for snubs the past two years.

 

[Peter Pirate]

There were at least three comments about the eisner/disney 'epic'. This made me laugh. They also showed Harvey Weinstein numerous times...Where was Mike (or Roy for that matter)?

I agree that 'POC' was certainly one of the most entertaining flicks of the year and Johnny was (IMO) the best actor - But it's hard to argue with Sean Penn's talent or the 'LOTR's mass appeal.

What got me was the virtual sweep for 'Titanic', er, I mean 'LOTR'. I can see best film but some of the others were certainly suspect. Let's see, best Costuming went to 'LOTR'...They had a free hand in making up costumes from a made up time vs. 'Cold Mountain', 'Last Samauri' or 'Master & Commander' which actually had historical guidelines that had to be adhered to (at least in the abstract)...Ridiculous.

Next is best music. You've got to be kidding. At least three of the other nominees had more appeal.

Best director. Jackson followed a classic book to the "t" and had three movies to tell the story. Sofia Coppola apparantely learned via OJT and produced an extraordinary flick that every male over 40 could appreciate.

Last, the special effects. 'LOTR''s was better than 'POC'...What a complete and utter joke. This was an anti Disney bias as sure as we're sitting here.

An esteemed fellow poster here on the DIS has always said the Academy was all political and seldom could get anything right for the right reason and I submit that he was absolutely correct in this assessment. 'LOTR' followed the recipe of that other Oscar winning "classic" 'Titanic' in that (1) we knew what was going to happen and (2) It had a built in following. 'Titanic' had the young girls who loved Leo and the romantics seeing the film over and over and over while 'LOTR' had the original Tolkien worshipers and scifi geeks going over and over and over. The story, although predictable and preachy, was done well and was visually stunning and contained plenty of violence to keep restless minds occupied. So for best film, I'd say it was certainly better than previous winners (for example) 'Titanic' or 'Forrest Gump' and it made a pile of dough...Which is I guess, the perfect recipe for best picture 2003.

 

[zulaya]

I think had the Academy not waited to recognize LOTR until the last installment, it probably wouldn't have seen a clean sweep.

I think Pirates just had the misfortune of being in the same year at LOTR. Any other year, the work done on it would have been a shoe-in, IMO.

Nevertheless, it is destined to be a classic. We all know where the talent lies.

 

[vernon]

Pirates wasn't "slammed" by the acadamy, it didn't win because there were more worthy films made this(last) year JMHO. POC was a fun film and enjoyable (it may even be one of Disney's best or recent times) but in terms of artistic vision it falls several fathoms short of Peter Jackson's LOTR.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by vernon
Pirates wasn't "slammed" by the acadamy, it didn't win because there were more worthy films made this(last) year JMHO. POC was a fun film and enjoyable (it may even be one of Disney's best or recent times) but in terms of artistic vision it falls several fathoms short of Peter Jackson's LOTR.

Well ... except that POC was shot from an orginal script that was developed from a theme park ride, while Jackson had Tolkien's words to start with. So I think POC deserves some lauds towards artistic vision simply for that.

 

[jazstar87]

I new the first two awards that the LOTR was going to get every award. I personally really didn't like the LOTR ROTK very much. I thought that one movie shouldn’t get every award they can get. I really think they should mix it up. The academy picking people probably were lazy this year and they pick best picture first and gave all the awards to the best picture winner.
Hey but things can be looking up we still got all the other award show even though there rip offs too. I think that Mtv is going to give all their awards to LOTR because it did so well at the academy, but any thing could happen. Hey an award is an award I would like to see POTC to get at least one award at any these award shows.

 

[YoHo]

Originally posted by vernon
Pirates wasn't "slammed" by the acadamy, it didn't win because there were more worthy films made this(last) year JMHO. POC was a fun film and enjoyable (it may even be one of Disney's best or recent times) but in terms of artistic vision it falls several fathoms short of Peter Jackson's LOTR.

Quoted for truth.

I LOVED PotC, but anyone that thinks it deserves an Oscar (with the exception of Depp) has been snorting too much Pixiedust.

It was a fun excellent film, but it was hardly an Oscar worthy film.

 

[Karl C]

Your all right for one reason or another and have valid points. No beefs there. POTC maybe was not a Oscar quality movie true enough. It does have it's merits though. Music was the best by far in my opinion and the way they blended the special effect's of the skeleton pirates in with the live actors was excellent. Johnny D. was not shown performing his best scene that's for certain. I probably should not have said "slammed" but it did seem to be slighted that's for sure. I hope they have better luck with part 2.

 

[maleficent1959]

Originally posted by Peter Pirate
What got me was the virtual sweep for 'Titanic', er, I mean 'LOTR'. I can see best film but some of the others were certainly suspect. Let's see, best Costuming went to 'LOTR'...They had a free hand in making up costumes from a made up time vs. 'Cold Mountain', 'Last Samauri' or 'Master & Commander' which actually had historical guidelines that had to be adhered to (at least in the abstract)...Ridiculous.

This was why I supported LOTR for Best Costuming. While the costumes in the other movies were certainly deserving of the nominations and meticuously done and beautifully detailed, it didn't stretch the designers to create Civil War uniforms or early nineteenth-century Naval uniforms. Antebellum hoop skirts? Been there, done that. The designers for LOTR had to create elaborate costuming with no historical template to follow.

 

[Planogirl]

I find it odd that Peter Jackson supposedly had an easier time making the LOTR films because he had books to draw from whereas costuming in LOTR was easier because there was nothing to draw from. Peter Jackson did of course have the books but he had to be true to Tolkien while creating entertaining movies for those who had never read the books. I would think that anyone that did NOT have prior work to stay true to would have an easier time because they could basically write whatever they wished to.

Personally, I loved POTC but it was not a GREAT film which ROTK was in my opinion. The special effects in ROTK blew me away while those in POTC were OK. But to each their own. I do agree with the music assessment however. Cold Mountain's music seemed better to me.

 

[Peter Pirate]

malificent, that is a very good point and my objection to that particular award is tempered.

...but anyone who thinks it deserves an Oscar has been snorting too much pixie dust.

Even though, what facts are there that POC is not deserving of an Oscar nod (aside from the Academy saying so)? The fact that it was a comedy? Was it because it was supercilious?

Why was LOTR worthy. The plot is full of holes and it was tedious (my opinion) and very predictable.

 

[Peter Pirate]

PG, regarding your objectivity point, see my answer above. Although there is a difference. The costuming has a format or notion already in place (for historical pieces) but the film must still look very different from any predecessors. Doing a fantasy is just using what works from practically any viewpoint chosen. As for the direction, it must have been immenetly easier for Jackson to be able to rely on Tolkien for any "issues" that arise. Where was 'Pirates' director (can't remember the name) going for inspiration? Disneyland?

Regarding special effects, we'll have to disagree. I thought so much of LOTR looked "animated" while POC was just cool.

 

[donald@home]

While I am sure that LOTR was deserving of many of the awards it received, I think giving EVERY award to LOTR was a bit mindless. As others have mentioned, some of the other films had elements that were worthy of an award.

I think POTC could have replaced Seabiscuit for Best Picture nomination (I think Master and Commander, being another Big Ship movie, stole some of POTCs thunder), and it POTC CERTAINLY deserved the best make-up award over LOTR.

 

[raidermatt]

For Depp, he was at a disadvantage because it was a comedic role. I haven't seen all of the other nominated performances, so I can't say that he should have won, but I wouldn't have had a problem with him winning.

We probably don't want to get into an indepth discussion of RotK here, but I have seen a few complaints about plot holes... The vast majority are not really holes but are just things some folks missed. Granted, you could say that in itself is a flaw, but if everybody gets everything after seeing a movie once, its probably too simplistic.

Tedious? I'd simply disagree. That aside, tedious has never been a reason for disqualifying an Oscar nominee before, so I don't see why it would be this year.

Predictable? I'm assuming you mean if you haven't read the book, since its obviously predictable if you have. I had not read the books at the time, so again, I can just say I disagree. Sure, I pretty much knew the good guys would win, but there were still legitimate questions of how that would happen, and who would survive.

Certainly you aren't saying there was any doubt about who would win in PotC, and who would get the girl?

Pirates was fun and entertaining, thought it lacked some depth and character development in some cases. Again, I haven't seen all of the nominated films, but I wouldn't argue with it receiving a nomination. I would have been surprised, but that's another issue.

 

[raidermatt]

11 does seem like a lot, but when you look at each individual award, you simply can't say RotK definitely should not have won. In fact, you can make a case that it got slighted in the supporting actor category. Yeah, the makeup was great in PotC, but those were some nasty looking Orcs in RotK also...

But lets face it, the main thing that was happening was that the first two movies DID get slighted in the numbers of Oscars they won, and this was when things got squared.

 

[disney_parrothead]

I think zulaya is right in that PotC had the misfortune of going against LotR. Two fantasy/adventure movies are going to cancel each other out vying for votes when going head-to-head, while the same couldn't be said of PotC vs. Mystic River, for example. I think LotR was like a runaway train that wasn't going to be stopped. So if people didn't vote for LotR for a certain award, they were probably going to vote for something completely different, and PotC wasn't different enough.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed PotC... it'll be the first movie I watch with my new TV and home theater after we move. But Best Picture? I'm sorry to say it fell a bit short of that, IMHO.

 

[Peter Pirate]

Let me make this clear. I don't have a problem with 'LOTR" winning best picture of the year. It wouldn't have been my choice but it was a good flick. My problem is quick dismissals of POC (and others opinions).

We will all disagre on likes and dislikes but having read the books, yes I knew what was going to happen but there wasn't great disguise or adventure in how the film progressed, IMO. It's probably just me (I can admit this).

With POC, I agree that certain characters were undeveloped, but I think Capt. Jack, Will & Barbossa were excellently portrayed and while there was no doubt as to the ending, I certainly thought for a moment or two that perhaps Capt. Jack and Will might sail off together leaving Elizabeth in a non PC lurch...