The same.

I'm not too sure about this one. Wanted to see it for some time and finally found some time yesterday, and while I thought Brody was great, the movie felt a bit too long and didn't do much for me overall. Decent enough movie, but I was somewhat hoping for more, especially after it was nominated for an Academy Award.

I really liked About Schmidt and hoped it would get a nod for Best Picture and when it didn't and The Pianist did, I thought I should check it out. An interesting movie, but not sure I would even go as far as to recommend it to anybody I know. But that's just me I guess.

On the other hand, what a great year for acting nominations. We get Brody in this, Daniel Day Lewis, Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine. They all gave great performances and I wouldn't mind any of them taking the award home.

I just saw this film, and I have to say that I have a new favorite film of 2002. Powerful. . .and masterfully done.
One scene in particular had me mesmerized.

Not to pick on YOU in particular Badger, but it is bothersome when films THIS good get nominated for Oscars because instead of focusing on just HOW TRUELY EXCELLENT the film is, everybody just deflects the conversation over to, "was Brody really as good as Nicholas Cage...", "Does the Pianist have broad enough appeal to win", etc.

Enough w/ the Oscar talk already! This is the best film not of 2003, NOT OF 2002, but of the last 5 years. It is an extraordinary achievement. As each day passes I'm more and more convinced that it is Polanski's best film, even beter than Rosemary's Baby. It is a true work of art.

All I said was I felt we had five quality nominations for Best Actor this year and I don't feel that way very often. Wasn't really comparing one performance to any other though.

I don't understand how a nomination can be a bad thing for a movie though. A lot of people wouldn't have bothered trying to see this one if it hadn't received that recognition. Actually sometime I just wish the Oscars would stop at listing the top five or whatever and not making a final decision.

I usually am against competition in the arts (I refuse to submit any of my articles I write for a living into the various contests and competitions because I don't believe in that kind of competition) but on the other hand it can also be fun to see films you liked recognized. But maybe I am the only one who actually feels that way.

I agree...competition in the Arts is kind of ludicrous. The Arts affects different people in different ways... That is why I posted on another thread that none of the Oscars are REALLY undeserved. I see the Oscars as more of a way of saying "on this day, at this time, with these circumstances, we all decided to honor you for your performance/film/script/etc." That is why I don't get upset at various outcomes. Sure, you can look back and say one film/performance was better than another, but it's the Arts...ya can't really say one of anything is better than another.

But about the Pianist...this is my pick...of the 5 noms...for Best Picture. Very moving, powerful, beautiful cinematography, etc. I have not seen Chicago yet. Guess I've been saving the "best" for last. (based on predictions and such.) In order, I'd go with The Pianist, Gangs of New York, The Hours, then The Two Towers.

Seeing Chicago this Saturday night... Just in time!

Personally I found Chicago highly overrated, but thats me. I've seen all 5 nominations except for The Hours. I place the pictures in this order: The Pianist, The Two Towers-(almost a tie)-Gangs of New York, Chicago

See what I mean.

FYI

Saw Chicago tonight... Uh...no. I'll put it just before The Two Towers. It was cute and all...but The Pianist, The Hours and Gangs of New York were good films. Hoping for a The Pianist "upset" tomorrow.

This post has been entirely, IMHO.

Man did you see brody kiss halle Berry, Whew, he got lucky!!!!

Anyway great news, 3 oscars for THE PIANIST

Best Picture for Chicago??? Movie is all hype! and overrated

I wonder how many people who are bitching about The Pianist's wins have actually seen the film.

while I haven't seen Pianist, I think it's wrong for them to build up its hope for Best Picture they way they did for a moment and then give to the glitzy Chicago.

That said, I really want to see this movie and Brody's performance, but I really have trouble watching depressing movies. Since it is about the holocaust I assume it is a big downer, especially in the hands of someone like Polanski, who seldom sugar coats anything. Should I go, or just spare myself the heartache?

I have.

It's only a downer in the sense that such a boring retread of effective Holocaust movies of the past is receiving praise and credit. Adrien Brody's performance in Angels in the Outfield was more convincing and I find it a huge discredit to the film (particularly the screenwriter and director) when something as awful, tragic, and powerful as the Holocaust can come across so bland and boring. One-dimensional characters...ooh, the Jews are heroic because they can only eat a bite of a candy. Ooh, the Germans are drinking and shooting Jews because that's the way they celebrate New Year's Eve. I didn't leave the film with a sense of knowing any of the characters...it was just a series of explosions and shootings, and caricatures...until the final twenty minutes, when some semblance of a story actually takes form...but it is too little, too late.

All in my opinion, of course...but off the top of my head, Cage, Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can), Hanks (Road to Perdition), Sandler (Punch-Drunk Love), Sam Rockwell (Confessions...), and Hugh Grant all gave more evocative and worthy performances, and of characters I actually cared about.

The Pianist is very cold in terms of emotion - your reaction will depend a lot on what you bring to it.

What other holocaust movies? I can think of one: Schindler's List. And since the Pianist is in many ways beter than Schindler's List, then I think it is worthy of distinction.

I also admire the Pianist for having a dark sense of humor and not being afraid to have laughs in a holocaust film. Something that the achingly earnest Schindler's List could barely attempt.

Schindler's List is Platoon: All realism, all earnest, and w/ all the trappings of "importance"

On the other hand The Pianist is Apocalypse Now: Surreal, phantasmagoric, twistedly funny, nightmarishly sick.

The truth is that the Pianist's subject (the holocaust) is of minimal importance to me. What I like about it more is the range of sensation that it transmits to me. The only film that comes close is the Russian film Come and See

well......I am going to drop the ball here.....

I do not know how many of you have seen the Pianist and how many have not...but I will say this...the other war movie A. Brody made about the war in Serbia....HARRISON'S FLOWERS.....was much, MUCH better however there were no chances for it to win.....WHY....perhaps because the Holocaust theme is much more "appealing"??? Talking about emotions.....I would love to hear a comparison between the Pianist and Harrison's.....

I ask that all of you look at Harrison's Flowers.......in that sense yes...I wonder why is it that always movies about the World War have to win prizes?

With that said I am glad that Polanski finally won an award!!!!

Schindler's List obviously comes to mind, but smaller Holocaust television movies do too, like "Escape from Sobibor", "The Attic", etc.

The Pianist offered nothing new to me that other Holocaust films of the past haven't. Essentially, the characters (or lack thereof) is the film's biggest weakness. It trivializes the history by making me not care.

Brody was also in The Thin Red Line, one of the best films ever made, but won nothing. And neither did anyone else for that brilliant film. What's your point? Sometimes great films don't get recognized.

Ignore the subject matter completely, like I said the fact that this is about the Holocaust ranks third in importance. Number one is that the Pianist has some of the most exquisetly crafted suspense scenes I've seen in a long, LONG time. Second is that subtextually the film is more about Polanski and his own life than it is about the Holocaust

My point is that, as noted above, the theme is often what wins...and it just happenes that Hollywood is very fond of Holocaust movies (e.g. recognizing them)!!!

That is true, and it may very well have been at the root of why they recognized the film, but in a wonderful bit of serendipity it also lead them (however wrongheadedly) to reward the script, the actor, and the director that truely DID deserver the honors most

Finally saw this movie lastnight and it was wonderful. It was well deserved of all the awards and praise it received.

I actually liked Polanski's The Ninth Gate better than The Pianist. Great performance by Brody though, and nothing can take that away from him. I hope to check him out in Harrison's Flowers very soon.

This was truly an excellent movie and I commend the Academy for recognizing a performance of subtelty and depth instead of showiness and grandiosity. The fact that it's a film dealing in part with the Holocaust doesn't narrow its appeal as a human survival story one bit. I found it every bit as emotionally affecting as Schindler's List, possibly even more because of its greater elegance and restraint. A scene between Krestchmann (the German Officer toward the end) and Brody was one of the most wrenching things I have seen in a theater in a long time.